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A Word to Farmers 

We believe we can safely say that this booklet contains a more com- 
plete program for fighting Hog Cholera than has ever before been pre- 
sented to the farmers of the Corn Belt. The amount of good you and 
your neighbors will derive from it, however, depends entirely upon what 
action you take on the advice herein contained. As Dr. Connaway aptly 
says, the eradication of Cholera "is primarily the farmer's problem." So 
long as there is no concert of action — so long as farmers are at the 
mercy of careless neighbors — just so long will this pestilence exact its 
annual toll of millions of dollars. 

The moment these booklets have been distributed in your neighbor- 
hood, steps should be taken for immediate action. Perhaps the best way 
will be to form an Executive Committee composed of 15 or 20 high-class 
farmers. Then let this Committee call a mass meeting of farmers in the 
town from whence the booklets were mailed out and at this mass meeting 
plans should be perfected to organize an "Anti-Hog-Cholera Club" in 
every school district in the surrounding territory. As soon as the school 
district work begins, a Membership Committee should be appointed in 
each district and the committee should see to it that every farmer within 
the district joins the Club. If there are districts which are slow to act, 
pressure should be brought to bear in order that there may be no "infec- 
tion spots" left. In this way, the "clean up" work will soon reach out in 
every direction and the results are certain to save hundreds of hogs. If 
there is a County Agent in your county, naturally he should lead in the 
organization work. Also, possibly the Agricultural College or State Vet- 
erinary Department may be able to send you a good man to assist. How- 
ever, if such outside aid is not available farmers should proceed on their 
own initiative! — for the campaign herein outlined comes from one of the 
greatest Hog Cholera authorities in the United States and is so simple 
that the farmers of any community can easily put it into operation them- 
selves. The main thing is to act quickly and thoroughly! Doubtless 
also, the Bank or Commercial Club which mailed out these booklets will 
be glad to render every possible assistance. The great purpose which 
has prompted us in publishing this booklet is to give farmers a program 
for fighting Hog Cholera which can be put into immediate effect in any 
community without outside assistance — for this task is so herculean that 
no Agricultural College or State Veterinary Department can possibly 
furnish half enough men to lead this "clean up" and "prevention" work 
which, in the last analysis, must depend upon farmers themselves. As in 
many other things, the actual beginning is more than half the battle. 
All signs point to a bad cholera season throughout the Corn Belt. Un- 
doubtedly the floods of the past summer have carried the contagion into 
many communities which were free from it last year. Again, the lack of 
hot sunshine will make the germs unusually virile. There is therefore 
not a moment to lose. The splendid results in Johnson County described 
by Mr. Ellis on pages 42, 43 and 44 can be obtained in any community 
where similarly aggressive organization work is put into effect. The main 
thing is to act! Once the school district Clubs have been organized, weekly 
meetings should be held until the situation is well in hand. If something 
comes up which you do not understand, write at once to your Agricultural 
College or State Veterinary Department. 

In conclusion, we feel sure you will appreciate the kindly interest of 
those who, at considerable expense, have placed these booklets in the 
hands of yourself and the other farmers of your community and whose 
only purpose is to contribute their share toward a happier and more pros- 
perous farm life. The time has come when all interests and forces must 
ioin hands in the great crusade for better farming methods upon which 
ihe walfare of the entire Nation so completely depends. 

THE MISSOURI FARMER, 

Columbia, Mo. 



Stamping Out Hog Cholera 



By 
J. W. £onnaway, D. V. S., M. D, 

Veterinarian College of Agriculture and Experiment Station 
University of Missouri 



Supplemented with articles on Methods of Breeding, Feeding and 

Caring for Swine by F. G. King, Indiana Experiment 

Station, and L. A. Weaver, Missouri 

Experiment Station 



Copyrighted and Published by 

THE MISSOURI FARMER 

Columbia, Missouri 



.06 



A Word to Swine Raisers 



Few men realize the enormous loss the live stock industry sustains 
annually from disease, most of which is preventable under proper sani- 
tary measures and treatment. According to Secretary of Agriculture, 
D. F. Houston, the swine raisers of the United States lost in 1913 "over 
6,000,000 hogs valued at more than $60,000,000." (See Year Book 1914, 
p. 19). For some reason there has been an enormous increase in hog 
cholera losses. According to the same source of information, Secretary 
of Agriculture, Jas. Wilson, in his report for 1912 (see Yearbook 1912, 
p. 169) estimates the annual loss from cholera at $18,000,000. These offi- 
cial figures are alarming to those interested in the swine industry and 
bear in mind this increase in hog cholera has been going on in spite of 
the increased efforts of the United States Department of Agriculture and 
about twenty-eight state departments which are trying to save the hogs. 
In the absence of other causes it seems safe to assume that the cause for 
this abnormal increase of hog cholera is due the planting of the seeds of 
the disease by the use of virus in the vaccination of hogs. 

The Department of Agriculture estimates the number of hogs, value 
and losses for one year from all sources for the eight leading states as 
follows: 

No. Hogs in State Total Value Loss from Disease 

fowa 8,720,000 $104,640,000 $16,742,000 

Illinois 4,315,000 45,308,000 6,343,050 

Missouri 4,087,000 34,740,000 6,079,412 

Nebraska 3,798,000 43,297,000 4,752,692 

Indiana 3,709,000 36,348,000 5,452,230 

Ohio 3,399,000 36,709,000 3,156,991 

Kansas 2,611,000 27,154,000 3,258,528 

Texas 2,493,000 20,941,000 942,354 

United States 61,178,000 603,109,000 $66,439,470 

The above losses are from all sources but as cholera accounts foi 
about 90 per cent of the total losses of hogs it leaves the loss of the whole 
country for one year, from cholera alone at $60,000,000. 

As further evidence that hog cholera has made an abnormal increase 
during the period that simultaneous vaccination has been developed we 
submit the following cfficial figures showing the number of hogs received 
and the number condemned on account of cholera at the markets where 
Government inspectors are maintained: 

Cholera- Hogs 
Year No. Hogs Received Condemned 

1910 27,731,627 7,677 

1911 29,920,261 10,721 

1912 34,966,378 56,931 

1913 32,287,537 88,547 

1914 33,289,705 116,107 

The above figures show only ?, normal increase in the number of hogs 

inspected for the five years but they show an alarming increase in the 
number of cholera cases — more than 1500 pdr ce nt. What other intelli- 

(2) jp ^ ' 

©C1.A426980 

•JAN I U 1916 
9l<i> I , 




gent reason can be given for this abnormal increase in cholera except that 
we have been deliberately sowing the seeds of hog cholera by the use of 
virus in the simultaneous process of vaccination? 

THE MISSOURI FARMER believes the best thing farmers can do is 
to put prejudice aside and unite their efforts to get rid of cholera. It 

does not seem reasonable that we 
can ever get entirely rid of this 
very contagious disease so long as 
we keep on scattering infection by 
the use of the virus method now 
used and recommended by so many 
veterinarians. The virus method 
may protect the man who uses it 
persistently but it exposes his 
neighbors' hogs and many new out- 
breaks are traced to this method. 
The serum-sanitation method 
outlined in this book by Dr. J. W. 
Connaway, Veterinary Department, 
College of Agriculture, University 
A Missouri, is along the same lines 
as those adopted by the National 
and various state boards of health 
in the control of contagious and in- 
Dr. j. w. connaway fectious diseases among people. 

Dr. Connaway has spent the best- years of his life in developing this 
method of hog cholera control. Hundreds of tests and experiments have 
been made in the veterinary laboratories of the State University, thous- 
ands of hogs have been used for making'the experiments, and in addition 
Dr. Connaway has visited many counties where hog cholera was raging 
and has studied the various ways by which the disease is spread from 
farm to farm. He has organized the farmers in several counties in Mis- 
souri that were at the time badly infested with cholera, into "Anti-Hog- 
Cholera Clubs" where his methods of sanitation and a limited use of 
serum have been thoroughly tried out with the result that hog cholera 
has been practically wiped out of these counties. "What has been done in 
these few counties can be done in any county or state in the Hog Belt by 
adopting the plan set forth in this book. 

No treatise on hog cholera has ever before been written by a man so 
competent to give correct advice as the author of this book. In co-opera- 
tion with the Texas Experiment Station Dr. Connaway's first great work 
was in perfecting the process of immunization of cattle against Texas 
Fever which enabled breeders to immunize their cattle and ship them 
into tick-infested areas with perfect safety. Aside from Dr. Connaway's 
experience as a veterinarian in the Missouri Experiment Station and 
among the live stock owners of the state he has studied in the leading 
universities of Europe, and because of the unselfish interest he has 
shown in the welfare of farmers and live stock owners, what he has to 
say in the following pages should be accepted as thoroughly reliable and 
most valuable advice to follow. THE PUBLISHER. 

(3) 



CONTENTS 



How to Control Hog Cholera 5-44 

(By J. W. Connaway, D. V. S., M. D., Missouri Experiment Station) 

GENERAL DISCUSSION 5-7 

QUARANTINE 8-9 

PUBLICITY 10-11 

METHODS OF DISINFECTION 12-14 

CONTROL OF INFECTION CARRIERS 15-21 

STOCK CARS AND STOCK YARDS 18-21 

PARASITES OF SWINE 22-27 

WORM REMEDIES 26 

LICE 27-28 

FOOD AND WATER 28-30 

HEALTHFUL HOUSING 31 

HOW TO KNOW HOG CHOLERA 33-38 

VACCINATION, WHEN AND HOW TO DO IT. 38-42 

ORGANIZATION FOR CONTROL 43-44 



Profitable Pork Production 45-66 

(By F. G. King, Indiana Experiment Station) 

FEEDING GROWING PIGS 45-48 

CARE OF SOW 49 

SOW AND LITTER 50-51 

FEEDING HOGS ON PASTURES 52-61 

DRY LOT HOG FEEDING 62-65 

PREPARATION OF GRAIN 66 



Modern Systems of Swine Management 67-80 

(By L. A. Weaver, Missouri Experiment Station) 

SYSTEMS DISCUSSED 67-69 

PRODUCING THE PIGS 70 

KIND OF HOGS 71 

CORN SUBSTITUTES 72 

CORN SUPPLEMENTS 73 

FORAGE CROPS 74-75 

HOGGING DOWN CORN 76-78 

SELF-FEEDERS FOR FATTENING SWINE 79-80 

(4) 



How to Get Rid of Hog Cholera 

J. W. CONN AWAY. D. V. S., M. D., VETERINARY DEPARTMENT. COLLEGE 

OF AGRICULTURE AND EXPERIMENT STATION, 

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI 

A plan to get rid of hog cholera and to prevent its recurrence on the 
farms of Missouri was formulated some two years ago by the Veterinary 
Department, in co-operation with the Farm Management Department of 
the University, and has been put into practical operation in several 
counties of the State with good results. 

This plan will be extended to other counties of the State, as rapidly 
as possible, through the newly organized department of Agricultural Ex- 
tension by means of which the departments of Veterinary Science, Farm 
Management and Animal Husbandry have been co-ordinated for more 
effective team-work, on the educational and demonstration phases of the 
problem. This plan provides for the co-operation of state and local police 
agencies, when the enforcement of official police measures are required. 
Fortunately experience has shown that drastic measures are rarely 
necessary. The plan which was formulated is simply an adaptation to 
stock farm conditions of old and well established principles and practices 
of sanitation that long experience has shown to be essential and affica- 
cious in the control of epidemics of disease affecting the human family. 

Let us consider for a moment what would be done if smallpox should 
break out in your neighborhood; or if scarlet fever or diphtheria should 
attack some child attending your schools. The first thing that would be 
done would be to isolate the infected person in such a manner as to 
prevent the spread of the disease. The patient would be kept in strict 
quarantine until the disease runs its course and until no danger exists 
from the release of the patient. All persons who have been exposed 
would be either quarantined, or disinfected and kept under close sur- 
veillance, until the incubation period of the disease has passed and they 
are found to be free from the disease and not dangerous as carriers of 
the infection. Visitors, though immune to the disease, would not be 
admitted to the isolation hospital where infected patients are being cared 
for on account of the risk of carrying away infection on their clothing. 
The people of the neighborhood would have prompt notification of the 
presence of the disease by spread of the news from neighbor to neighbor 
or through the public press; besides, the infected houses and quarantine 
quarters would be marked with yellow or red flags, or with placards to 
give warning to the public of the presence of a dangerous, infectious 
disease. During the course of the disease, proper measures of disinfec- 
tion would be applied, particularly to all excretions. And before the 
quarantine of the premises is raised, the patient and the clothing, bedding, 
utensils, and the building would be properly disinfected to prevent the 
spread of the disease. And where railroad coaches, cabs, depots, hotels, 
school houses or other public buildings have been exposed to the infec- 
tion, these would also be thoroughly disinfected. 

In addition to the foregoing measures vaccines or serums are em- 
ployed to some extent in certain diseases as in small-pox and diphtheria. 

(5) 



6 HOW TO CONTROL, HOG CHOLERA 

And it cannot be denied that such preventive and curative measures have 
been of inestimable value in the saving of human life. It must be re- 
membered, however, that some infections, for which no vaccines exist, 
have been controlled in an effective manner by sanitation alone. The 
workers who dug the Panama Canal were saved from yellow fever and 
malaria by sanitation and not by vaccination. Bubonic Plague was eradi- 
cated from our coast cities without vaccination. In the control of typhoid 
fever, health officers are still zealous in applying sanitary measures, not- 
withstanding the efficacy of anti-typhoid vaccination. Public health will 
still demand a pure water supply, uncontaminated by cess-pool drainage; 
and still demand a clean, nourishing, healthful food supply. 

Sanitary measures are employed to prevent the parasitic infestation 
of children and adults by such parasites as tape worms and hook worms 
and the common round-worms which lower the vitality of the human 
host and lessen the resistance to infectious disease. 

The modern science of Sanitary Engineering is an aid to the main- 
tenance of human health, and the prevention of epidemic contagions; for 
it helps in building dwellings and public buildings that are healthful as 
well as convenient, and the more that public attention is directed to 
healthful housing the simpler becomes the problem of the control of 
infectious diseases. 

Success in the control and eradication of epidemics of human mala- 
dies has not been the work of a day. It has been of slow development, 
and has been built upon scientific investigations that have given to the 
world a better knowledge of the nature of infections and how to control 
them. It has also come from the popularization of knowledge concerning 
these matters; and the value of the latter cannot be over-estimated, for 
in this way only can a forceful community-sentiment be developed that 
will result in proper organization and co-operation to do the things that 
should be done. For in the control of some human infections much is 
still to be desired, nevertheless the outlook is encouraging. 

Summarizing the essentials given above we have: (1) isolation or 
quarantine; (2) notification or publicity; (3) disinfection; (4) control 
of infection carriers; (5) prevention of parasitic infestation; (6) vaccina- 
tion; (7) pure water supply; (8) clean, nutritious food; (9) healthful 
housing; (10) scientific research; (11) popular education concerning 
health matters; (12) organization and co-operation. 

The question arises: can such a programme be applied successfully 
to the prevention and eradication of hog cholera? If so, how can it be 
done in the most effective and most economical manner? Who shall do 
the work? And, in the outline given above, where should the greatest 
emphasis be placed? During the past few years considerable effort and 
considerable money have been expended by the Federal Department of 
Agriculture, the Colleges of Agriculture, and the State Boards of Agri- 
culture and Live Stock Sanitary Boards, in laboratory and field experi- 
ments on hog cholera control work; all of which will be helpful in the 
final solution of what to do, and how to do it as well as what not to do. 
The lack of proper co-ordination and co-operation of the different agen- 
cies, due to various causes, has to some extent prevented better results. 



ERADICATION IS A FARMER'S JOB 




Cleaning Up Filthy Hog Pens 
It is probable tbat in some instances each' official agency has exaggerated 
its own importance in the matter and has overlooked, or minimized, the 
importance of another group that has not been mentioned; namely, the 
swine raisers themselves, who are more vitally interested in the eradica- 
tion of hog cholera than the scientific and educational and the veterinary 
police agencies can possibly be. Some of us who have been working on 
this difficult problem think we have discovered that the main work of 
eradicating hog cholera is the fanners' job; that is, the practical details 
of the things that are most essential to prevent or eradicate cholera 
must be learned and applied by the swine raisers themselves! They are 
the "nurses" who are always on the job. It is important that they should 
become "trained nurses" who will carry out in a proper manner the sani- 
tary measures that must be applied and which no one else will do for 
them, nor should do for them, for they are the prime beneficiaries. The 
efforts of those who regard the eradication of hog cholera as essentially a 
veterinary problem, to be handled exclusively by a large veterinary police 
force, and by the extensive application of anti-hog-cholera serum (and 
"virus") are doomed to failure. Sufficient evidence from practical trials 
is on record to show that this is true. 

The eradication of hog cholera is essentially a "farm management 
problem," and I for one believe that groups of farmers can soon be taught 
what is essential for them to do, and can be organized into an effective 
"sanitary force" that will be able to eradicate hog cholera from any 



8 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

neighborhood or county in the state. Such a force is not expensive to 
the state, they are willing to do the work, without salary and traveling 
expenses, for they are working for themselves and their pay comes in 
the increased production of swine on their farms and the freedom of 
their herds from cholera, as well as immunity from the increasing and 
burdensome tax of vaccination. This "sanitary force," however, must 
have sound instruction, proper organization and wise leadership. It is 
manifestly the duty of the Colleges of Agriculture of the various states to 
organize and carry on, through the departments mentioned, this instruc- 
tional work, which will teach the farmers what they can and should do 
for themselves, and how to do it. In developing the outline given above 
I shall also point out what I consider to be the proper relations of other 
official and non-official agencies to the work of hog cholera eradication. 
For no one should be released from his rightful responsibility in this im- 
portant work. 

First of all, I desire to impress upon the farmers the fact that the 
control and eradication of hog cholera is not dependent upon the large 
use of anti-hog-cholera serum; and least of all upon the large use of the 
"serum-virus" or "simultaneous method" of vaccination. The great em- 
phasis that has been put upon vaccination by serum producers, and by 
a few over-enthusiastic veterinary officials has retarded progress, by 
diverting the attention of the swine raisers from the more important 
essentials of hog cholera control. In the words of an official veterinary 
sanitarian of a neighboring state: "It is high time to quit scattering hog 
cholera with both hands and both feet and begin to use sense and sanita- 
tion." The part I have borne in the development of the production and 
use of anti-hog-cholera serum, should be sufficient proof that I do not 
under-value the importance of this valuable agent which indeed I regard 
as one of the most important discoveries that has been made, so far as 
veterinary science is concerned. But it is a fact, to be deplored, that its 
over-exploitation and misuse have led many swine raisers to distrust it. 
In a right system of hog cholera control it should be placed secondary 
to the more essential things of sanitation. Practical trial on a sufficiently 
extensive scale in several counties of this state has demonstrated that the 
principles and methods outlined about (for the control of contagions af- 
fecting the human family) , can be applied with success to the eradication 
of hog cholera. I shall now discuss their adaptation to stock-farm con- 
ditions and shall try to so simplify the application of the methods that 
they will not be burdensome nor expensive and will be accepted as a 
part of a proper system of farm management — so that the "prevention of 
hog cholera" may, in the main, become an incident to a better system of 
farming, and not be a cumbersome and expensive system of itself. 



ISOLATION AND QUARANTINE 

Since the diagnosis of cholera in the early stages is not always easy 
and positive it is a wise precaution for the swine raisers to separate 
every sick hog from the herd promptly on the first appearance of any 
signs of illness. One or two small pigs may have contracted the disease 
from picking up the infection from the highway that runs alongside the 



ISOLATE SICK HOGS 




Cleaning Stock Car and Disinfecting with Lime 

farm. These smaller shoats are more difficult to keep within bounds than 
the older hogs, hence are more liable to contract the disease. If they 
are taken away from the main herd promptly, before they have developed 
a diarrhoea, the probabilities are that the feed lots Avill not become in- 
fected through their excreta; and the disease may not go further than 
the first few sick animals. But if they are left with the herd several days, 
on the supposition that they are probably suffering only from intestinal 
worms, Ihey have an opportunity to spread cholera infection through 
the dung and urine to many parts of the feed lots and thus expose a 
large number of the older hogs. This may result in disastrous losses to 
the owner and spread the disease to neighboring farms. Hog cholera 
has been frequently introduced onto a farm by means of imported breed- 
ing stock, boars or sows, that have come from infected farms or have 
become infected en route; or by the "show herd," that has been exposed 
on the fair circuit. Such animals should never be put with the main 
herd until all danger of transmitting the disease has passed. They 
should be put into "temporary quarantine" for three weeks or longer. 
Such precautions will often save the owner many dollars and prevent 
the spread of the disease to neighboring farms, as instances I can cite 
will show. At the price of one or two fat hogs, a good isolation shed and 
pen can be built, that would serve the excellent purpose of a swine hos- 
pital, or quarantine station, for holding and treating sick hogs affected 
with ordinary troubles; and during a cholera epidemic would be worth 
thousands of dollars as an aid in controlling the disease. 



10 HOW TO CONTROL, HOG CHOLERA 

These isolation or quarantine sheds and pens need not be expensive. 
The essential requirements are that they shall be located as far as possi- 
ble away from the breeding and feeding pens; and where the drainage 
will not flow in the direction of these pens, or toward a neighbor's hog 
lots. Good dimensions for a cheap and suitable shed are: front 6 ft. high, 
rear ft., depth 10 or 12 feet — and any length desired. Rough boxing 
will serve to close the ends and back. The lower half of the front should 
also be boxed, but the upper half should be left open to admit sunshine, 
but over the opening, one-inch mesh chicken-wire should be tacked to 
keep out birds. Rough boxing and tarred roofing paper will make a good 
water-tight roof of sufficient durability. For the floor, coal cinders 
tamped to a depth of 8 or 10 inches answers the purpose, especially if 
protected by laying woven wire over the surface to prevent the hogs from 
rooting up the cinders. At a slight increase of expense the front half of 
the floor can be covered with a 4-inch layer of cement for a feeding floor. 
This can be separated from the sleeping quarters at the back by a 2 by 5 
inch scantling set on edge. The cinder floor is better for sleeping quar- 
ters than cement. For convenience in handling the hogs the individual 
pens should not be larger than 10 by 12 feet. Two such pens, under one 
roof, are usually sufficient for the ordinary farm. If more space is re- 
quired the shed can be made longer. The open side of the shed should 
face the south. A strong door with lock and key should be provided to 
keep out visitors. As a further precaution it is advisable to build a six 
foot heavy close-mesh woven wire fence (bull fence) around the quaran- 
tine shed, with an intervening space of 10 or 12 feet, to prevent the close 
approach of infection carriers, like hogs or dogs and persons. This outer 
fence should have a good door, with lock and key. A shallow ditch should 
be shoveled out on the inside of the enclosure near the fence. This ditch 
should be partly filled with fresh lime as occasion may demand. These 
pens will be found useful for other purposes than that of isolating 
cholera infected pigs. They are also very convenient for holding litters 
of pigs under treatment for intestinal worms. The great advantage of 
such pens in isolating cholera infected hogs is that the infected excreta 
is confined to a small space and can be completely destroyed by the appli- 
cation of a small quantity of quick-lime, or other reliable disinfectant. 
Moreover, in the case of valuable breeding animals, better nursing can be 
given in these isolation quarters than if left with herd. The quarantine 
or isolation measures, recommended and urged, are "voluntary measures," 
which every farmer should carry out for his own benefit. The neglect 
of the same may not only cause him serious losses, but so endanger the 
herds of the neighboring farms, that an official quarantine of the entire 
farm by the State Veterinary officials may become necessary. 

IMPORTANCE OF PUBLICITY 

Publicity is a necessary and important aid in the prevention and 
control of hog cholera. And it is the duty of every swine raiser to 
prevent the spread of the disease from his own premises in every way 
he can, if the disease should attack his herd. The owners of adjoining 
farms should be notified of the danger in order that they may take all 
the precautions possible against the disease. The simple precaution of 
removal of a herd to another part of the farm may not only prevent 



PUBLICITY AN AID IN PREVENTION 



11 




Stock Car After It Has Been Cleaned and Disinfected 

losses in a neighbor's herd, but prevent the formation of a new focus of 
infection for the further spread of the disease. A neighbor may have a 
lot of fattening hogs that are almost ready for market and prompt noti- 
fication of the danger may save the neighbor hundreds of dollars by 
showing him the advisability of marketing his hogs a few days earlier, 
or by removing them to safer quarters in the case of his breeding hogs 
and vaccinating them if that seems advisable. In the past, many farmers 
neglected this matter of notification of the neighbors, although the law 
prescribes that it shall be done. The spirit of co-operation that is de- 
veloping among the farmers to help one another is rapidly correcting 
this matter. 

Notification of the Veterinary Department of the College of Agricul- 
ture that hog cholera serum is needed for the control of the outbreak 
will bring a response from that department with sufficient serum for the 
purpose, and such instruction and official aid as lie in the province of 
that department. The new $50,000 serum laboratory here in Missouri will 
enable the department to meet promptly every proper demand for serum. 

In the event of the infraction of the laws, relating to the disposal of 
hog cholera carcasses, or when services, requiring the application of offi- 
cial quarantine or veterinary police measures are necessary, the State 
Veterinarian should be notified; as it is the function and duty of this 
officer to investigate and prosecute such infractions! Or the prosecuting 
attorney of the county may be notified. Every neighborly effort to correct 



12 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

illegal and dangerous practices, or negligence, should be exhausted before 
resorting to drastic measures. Our experience with the plan we have in 
operation shows that resort to law is rarely necessary. 

METHODS OF DISINFECTION 

One of the first and most important matters for the farmers to 
consider in the work of preventing and eradicating hog cholera is 
that of "disinfection." Precautionary measures in the way of a frequent 
"clean-up" of the feed lots and hog houses, and a proper disinfection of 
the same are advisable, and especially at times when cholera is prevalent 
in the district. The destruction of the seeds of the disease, or virus of 
hog cholera, is essential to success in eradicating hog cholera. The oldest 
and most efficient means of destroying disease germs is fire, and it is 
especially recommended for the destruction of hog cholera infection. 
The carcasses of hogs that have died from cholera are particularly dan- 
gerous as disease producers and should be destroyed by fire. It is obli- 
gatory under the law to burn all hogs that have died of any disease! The 
law presumes that they are capable of producing outbreaks of some con- 
tagious disease. The old law that permitted the burial of hog carcasses 
was repealed by the Legislature two years ago. Not only should the car- 
casses of hogs be burned, but the carcasses of dead animals of all kinds 
should be burned, since they attract infection carriers like dogs and 
buzzards that may have fed upon a carcass of a hog that has died of 
cholera on a distant farm. The destruction by fire of the carcasses of 
hogs is not difficult it is easier than to bury them. The essential thing 
is to have a good under-draught which can be secured by scooping out a 
shallow trench and placing across it a few bars of scrap iron to hold up 
the carcass; an old mower wheel or a discarded iron harrow frame an- 
swers the purpose well. A small amount of wood and kindling put under 
the hog, and a little kerosene poured over it is all the fuel that is needed. 
Several longitundinal cuts should be made through the skin and fat, and 
the belly and chest cavities opened so as to expose the internal organs 
to the heat, turning the belly down. The fat in the carcass adds fuel to 
the flame. Fire however cannot be applied under all circumstances as in 
the case of infected barn yards and feeding pens. Chemical disinfectants, 
therefore, have an important place. Among these, caustic lime has the 
highest value for practical purposes in the destruction of hog cholera 
infection. It is cheap and easily applied and when used freely is very 
effective. The lime should be purchased in the barrel, in the form of 
the unslacked burned limestone, and should be used freshly air-slacked. 
The head of the barrel can be removed and the lime-rock emptied on a 
dry place under shelter, then sprinkled slightly with water to start the 
slacking process. When slacked sufficiently to admit of scattering freely 
with a shovel it is ready for use. Infected feed lots should be disinfected 
as follows: Pieces of boards, rails, corn stalks, cobs and other rough 
litter lying around in the infected feed lots should be piled up on the 
middle of the lot and burned. Then lime should be spread thickly over 
the ground so that the ground will look as if covered with a light snow. 
If large feed lots are to be covered, a lime spreader may be used. But a 
wheelbarrow and shovel answer the purpose well enough even for large 



LIME AND OTHER DISINFECTANTS 



13 




An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure 

feed lots. Keep stock off the ground for a few days, then scrape up the 
manure into "windrows" by means of j a two-horse board scraper (home- 
made). Scatter more lime on the windrows and shovel the manure and 
lime into rounded piles, sprinkle more lime over these piles, and let them 
stand for a few days. The addition of a little water to these piles is ad- 
visable if the barnyard manure is dry. This will start the slacking and 
heating process which will effectually destroy the hog cholera germs. 
The eggs and embryos of five or six different kinds of worms that com- 
monly infest hogs, and occur in hog dung will also be destroyed by the 
lime. The manure and lime will help to sweeten and fertilize the soil 
where you intend to start an alfalfa or clover field. The money spent for 
lime is not wasted. The cleaned feed-lots should be covered again with 
another dressing of lime. The hog houses, cots and fences should be 
white-washed inside and outside with a hot lime-wash. The Compound 
Cresol Solution made according to the United States Pharmacopeia has 
been found by laboratory tests at the United States Bureau laboratories 
to be one of the most efficient chemical disinfectants for destroying hog 
cholera germs and may be applied in the form of a spray. Mix 1 pint to 
3 gallons of water. This is useful in disinfecting wagon boxes and hog 
houses. Lime, however, seems to be preferred by most farmers, espe- 
cially for use on the grounds and its reliability has been thoroughly 
demonstrated both by laboratory and field use. Besides it has an ad- 
vantage over the cresol, and the ordinary carbolic stock-dips, in being 
of value to the soil instead of harmful. I may mention that one of the 



14 HOW TO CONTROL, HOG CHOLERA 

best swine breeders in the state was able to restock his breeding quarters 
within sixty days after having had severe losses from cholera. He used 
nothing but fresh air-slacked lime, but he did a thorough job. An experi- 
ment was made by the Veterinary Department of the Experiment Station 
in the disinfection of an infected pen, in one of the local railroad stock 
yards; ( pen in which a number of hogs had died from cholera) this pen 
was treated to an application of fresh air-slacked lime. In a few days 
six pigs were turned into the pen and fed there for three weeks. They 
did not receive any medical treatment nor special care and no symptoms 
of illness had developed at the end of the period. These same pigs were 
put in a clean pen for a few weeks at the State Farm for further observa- 
tions; none showed any signs of cholera. Then, as a test of their sus- 
ceptibility, they were exposed to infected pens at the serum plant. They 
promptly took the disease and nearly all died. This experiment demon- 
strated that quick-lime or freshly air-slacked lime is an efficient agent in 
disinfecting badly contaminated hog lots in the stock yards. 

The ordinary carbolic dips and disinfectants are not as efficient in 
destroying hog cholera infection as the Compound Cresol Solution, ac- 
cording to tests made by the United States Bureau of Animal Industry. 

The thorough disinfection of large fields, pastures, and woodlands by 
means of chemical disinfectants such as lime and Compound Cresol Solu- 
tion, is of course impracticable, yet such fields can be made safe for sus- 
ceptible hogs. If hogs are kept out of infected fields for a sufficient time, 
the germs of the disease die out. The germs do not seem to have the 
power of growing outside of the body of the hog. Although the life of 
the germs may be conserved for awhile outside of the body if conditions 
are favorable. It has been observed that the hog cholera infection dies 
out more quickly in open fields well exposed to the rays of the sun than 
in moist, shaded places. The cholera germs on exposed grounds are 
killed quicker during the summer months than in winter. Strong sun- 
light is a good disinfecting agent for a number of disease germs and 
among them hog cholera. It is advisable to put cattle, horses or sheep 
on the cholera infected pastures and let them crop the grass closely, so 
as to give the grounds a good exposure to the hot rays of the summer 
sun. Hogs are not so liable to contract cholera in the large fields as in 
the smaller feed lots, since the infection would not be so concentrated, 
so far as the droppings from sick hogs are concerned. The most thor- 
ough disinfection of the large fields and pastures can be assured by 
making a search for carcasses of pigs and for the bedding places that 
sick hogs have used. Fire and a little lime can be used to advantage in 
destroying the cholera germs in these. 

The time required for the cholera infection to die out on large fields 
and pastures will vary with the conditions of weather and soil and ex- 
posure to sun, as well as the degree of infection. Under the most favor- 
able conditions large fields that have become infected will probably not 
be entirely safe for susceptible hogs under 90 to 100 days, though cases 
are reported where infected fields were apparently free from the infec- 
tion in less time. 

Every possible effort should be made to prevent large fields and pas- 
tures from becoming infected with cholera germs. 



CONTROL OF INFECTION CARRIERS 



15 




The Local Stock Yards — A Source of Infection 



THE CONTROL OF INFECTION CARRIERS 

The most dangerous infection carriers with which the farmer has 
to deal are the sick and exposed hogs. The driving of sick hogs upon the 
highways to market is prohibited by law; but the law is sometimes broken 
by those who are ignorant of the provisions, and sometimes by those who 
know the requirements of the law, but ignore therr and have no regard 
for the rights of their neighbors. Sick hogs should never be removed 
from the farm, but should be closely quarantined until they have recov- 
ered, or have died. And the infection and infected carcasses should be 
destroyed. This shipment of sick hogs to market, even when hauled to 
the shipping station, spreads the disease and increases the dangers at 
the local and large central stock yards as well as being a source of 
danger to the farms lying along the railroad lines. 

Healthy hogs that have been exposed to sick hogs in the same feed- 
ing pens may transmit the disease from contamination of their feet and 
bodies and should not be driven over the roadways to market. They 
should always be hauled to the shipping station. If driven to market the 
farms along the highway are endangered. Streams crossing the highway 
and passing through one or more farms may become sufficiently contami- 
nated from the feet and bodies of the hogs to start an outbreak. Only 
healthy hogs from clean farms, should be driven to market; and it is 
probably a good practice to haul these, on account of the shrinking in 
weight from driving. 



16 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

Cattle that have been fed in feed lots where hogs have been dying 
from cholera may also carry the infection on their feet when driven to 
market and spread it along the highway, from whence it may find its 
way to adjacent farms. The feet of cattle may be easily disinfected by 
driving the animals through the dehorning chute, in the floor of which 
every farmer should have a shallow vat, preferably of concrete. The vat 
should be the full width of the chute and 8 or 10 inches deep. This vat 
is serviceable in the treatment of sore feet in all farm animals, particu- 
larly cattle and sheep. A strong solution of copper sulphate (blue stone), 
or a 5 per cent solution of the Compound Cresol Solution should be used 
to clean and disinfect the feet of cattle that have been on cholera infected 
grounds. 

The danger of a recently purchased lot of feeding cattle carrying the 
disease from an infected stock yard to the farm should not be overlooked 
and proper precautions should be taken to disinfect the animals' feet 
before hogs are exposed to them. 

Dogs: It is well known that dogs serve as carriers of cholera infec- 
tion. It is therefore advisable, during outbreaks of cholera in the neigh- 
borhood, to keep all valuable dogs in quarantine, especially at night to 
prevent them roving about and visiting cholera infected farms where 
carcasses may have been left unburned. Worthless stray dogs should be 
destroyed. 

Barnyard Fowls: The infection is easily carried by chickens and 
turkeys from the roadway along which diseased hogs have been driven, 
or from an infected pen to clean pens, on other parts of the same farm. 
These fowls should be shut away from the hog lots during outbreaks of 
hog cholera on the farm, or in the neighborhood. A few dollars spent in 
poultry netting will be less expensive than buying serum; and will often 
save hundreds or thousands of dollars to the neighborhood. Pigeons are 
more dangerous as infection carriers because of their habits of flying to 
neighboring farms and feeding with hogs that may be suffering from hog 
cholera. The pigeons should be destroyed or should be kept in confine- 
ment when cholera is in the neighborhood. Buzzadrs and crows should 
be dealth with by shot-gun quarantine. "Simultaneous" and repeated at- 
tacks upon the roosting camps of these undesirable birds, by "Farmers' 
Clubs" or "Anti-hog-cholera Clubs" will soon rid a neighborhood or 
county of these infection carriers. 

Undesirable Persons: The traveling hog-doctor, with his "sure cure" 
and "preventive" for hog cholera, and all other ills to which swine are 
subject, should not be a welcome visitor — for he is liable to be an infec- 
tion carrier. His business takes him to diseased herds; and as a rule 
these business parasites are not careful to thoroughly disinfect their 
contaminated shoes and overalls after treating (?) a diseased herd. The 
itinerant "vaccinators," and the local "farmer-agents" for serum compa- 
nies are also undersirable visitors; they are more interested in the "com- 
missions" and "fees" than in sanitation; and more likely to spread 
cholera virus on your farm "with both hands and both feet," than they 
are to give relief from a threatened danger from other sources. The 
local stock buyer is a valuable go-between for the farmer in marketing 



HOW CHOLERA INFECTION IS SPREAD 



17 




Prowling Dogs Spread Cholera Far and Wide 

small lots of hogs; but tie becomes a nuisance and menace if he forms 
the bad habit of seeking for bargains in diseased and badly exposed herds. 
He thus aids in maintaining infected pens at the local stockyards and 
carries infection on his shoes to healthy herds and clean farms. The 
owners of healthy herds should keep stock buyers out of their hog lots 
if they have come from infected premises and have not properly disin- 
fected their shoes. Stock buyers should join the farmers' "Anti-hog- 
cholera clubs" and do everything they can to aid in eradicating cholera 
by applying proper sanitary measures. It will serve their own business 
interests in the best possible manner. 

Teams and wagons: Cholera infection may be carried to healthy 
herds and farms by teams and wagons. Threshing outfits that go from 
farm to farm should be careful to not drive through cholera infected hog 
lots, or in fact through healthy hog lots. Inquiry should be made as to 
the presence of cholera on the farms where threshing is done. And 
every precaution should be taken by every man on the force to avoid 
coming in contact with the infection and to prevent the teams and 
wagons from doing so. When hogs are hauled to the local stock yards 
it is a wise precaution for the farmer not only to disinfect his shoes but 
also to disinfect the feet of the team and the wheels of the wagons before 
returning to the farm. Especially if sick hogs have recently been un- 
loaded in the local stock yards. Also disinfect the inside of the wagon 
box, and the litter it may contain. (See "Chemical Disinfectants" — under 
Disinfection). 

Streams: Hog cholera infection may be carried from one farm to 
another by the water courses that run through them. It is not the fault 



lg HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

of these streams if they become polluted and carry disease, but the fault 
of the farmers through whose farms the streams run. For by co-opera- 
tion and," by observing the precautions given above it will be rare for a 
stream to become polluted. We cannot change the general course of the 
streams nor stop them from flowing; but we can protect them from 
pollution with hog cholera infection. Sick hogs must not have access to 
the streams; dead hogs must not be permitted to rot in them; and 
cholera infected litter and manure must not be allowed to wash into 
them; these things we can control. But when danger from such a source 
does occur, losses can be avoided by removing the healthy herds to other 
fields away from the infected stream. Or the stream can be fenced off 
from the field occupied by the hogs. 

In our county organization plan (see "Organization and co-opera- 
tion") every member of an "Anti-hog-cholera club" regards it as a special 
duty to notify the owners of farms whose herds may be endangered by 
the drainage from his infected farm and this practice is recommended to 
farmers in counties not yet organized. 

Ponds: On farms where the stock water is supplied from ponds, 
these ponds may become sources of danger, if not protected from pollu- 
tion. The pond should be fenced in so as to prevent the hogs from wal- 
lowing in it. One sick pig may endanger the whole herd by infecting the 
pond. Dogs should also be fenced out — for roving dogs have a fondness 
for stock ponds, as well as for cholera carcasses and may infect the pond. 
The fence should be made of woven wire of proper height and the top 
should be guarded by a couple of barbed wires. Watering troughs, set 
at a level lower than the pond, and at any distance desired, can be kept 
full of water by means of water pipes and automatic "cut-off." 

It is also a wise precaution to protect the drainage area above the 
pond by fencing out the farm stock, particularly the hogs, since the drain- 
age will carry some of the droppings into the pond. These droppings, 
even if free from hog cholera germs, often contain great numbers of in- 
testinal worms and their eggs. The drainage area should be put in 
meadow grasses for hay crops. 

Stock Cars: Stock cars that have transported diseased hogs may 
carry hog cholera infection long distances if the litter and cars are not 
properly disinfected. The recent experience of a number of states with 
foot-and-mouth disease calls attention strongly to the danger of spread- 
ing disease by means of stock-cars. 

Provision has been made by the Federal Bureau of Animal Industry 
for disinfecting cars that have carried hogs to the large markets for 
slaughter, whenever an interstate shipment is found to contain sick hogs. 
And a number of states have regulations requiring a "health certificate," 
and proper disinfection of the cars, for hogs shipped into the state. Ade- 
quate provisions, however, have not been made in many states at least, 
for the disinfection of cars that have carried hogs from one locality to a 
distant part of the same state. This is a matter that is left largely to 
the discretion of the shipper and consignee. And the neglect to disinfect 
the car at the starting point before loading the hogs, and again at the 
destination after unloading has, at times, resulted in the spread of 



CO-OPERATION OF SHIPPERS AND THE RAILROADS 



19 




Poland China Sow 



cholera. The transportation of infected hogs across the state can 
scarcely be accomplished without the dropping of infected litter along 
the right-of-way and at the terminal station. Many outbreaks of cholera, 
which have spread widely over a neighborhood have originated from the 
shipment of feeding hogs from a distant part of the state, or from an ad- 
joining state. Even shipments of supposedly immune hogs (serum-virus 
treated) have carried cholera long distances; in one instance, from Mis- 
souri to Indiana. 

Shippers, consignees, and railroad agents should co-operate to lessen 
the dangers of spreading cholera through infected hogs and stock cars, 
even if no official regulations governing the matter are in force. For the 
business interests of all three will be promoted by getting rid of cholera. 

Simple, pi'actical measures of prevention can be applied that will 
obviate, to a large extent, the dangers mentioned, if the shipper, railroad 
man and consignee will co-operate; (1) to prevent the shipment of hogs, 
for feeding purposes from infected yards and farms; (2) to see that 
they are not collected in infected shipping pens; (3) nor shipped in cars 
that have not been properly disinfected; (4) and not unloaded enroute in 
infected feeding pens; (5) nor in an infected pen at the terminal station. 
And all this can be done without much expense. The money saved 
through the prevention of cholera will meet the expense many times over. 
The disinfection of a stock car is not an expensive nor difficult task. 
Caustic lime (freshly slacked) and Compound Cresol Solution are cheap 
and efficient disinfectants and are easily applied. 

If lime is used it should be sprinkled freely over tbe floor of the car 
before the removal of any manure or bedding. Water should then be 
sprinkled over the lime and litter and the whole scraped up and removed 



20 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

from the car. This manure and litter should be dumped in some pro- 
tected place where hogs cannot come in contact with it; and where it 
can lie a few days to heat, after a further application of lime. After the 
car has been made tolerably clean with shovel and broom, more lime 
should be scattered over the floor and moistened by means of a spray 
pump or sprinkling can. And the walls of the car should be sprayed or 
mopped with a hot lime-wash made by adding unslacked lump lime to a 
bucket or tub of water. A handful of salt dissolved in each bucket of 
water before adding the quick lime increases the efficiency of the solu- 
tion. A car thus cleaned and disinfected will carry hogs from one part 
of the state to another without danger of infecting them with cholera. 
The car should be properly bedded with clean straw. Ordinarily a bushel 
to a bushel and a half of quick lime will be sufficient to disinfect a 36-foot 
stock car with floor space of 300 sq. ft. And the cost of the lime will not 
exceed 50 or 60 cents. And even if it should require a full barrel, its use 
would be a wise precaution, as insurance against the loss from cholera 
of a good part of the shipment and against spreading the disease to 
other herds. 

If the Cresol Compound (Liquor Cresolis Compositus) (U. S. P. form- 
ula) is used it should be diluted with water to make a three or four per 
cent solution. One gallon of the undiluted solution will make up 33 gal- 
lons of a 3 per cent solution or 25 gallons of a 4 per cent solution. 
Sprinkle or spray the litter and dung thoroughly with the disinfectant 
before scraping it up and removing from the car. Then spray and scrub 
the floor and wash down the walls of the car with the same solution. 

For the disinfection of stock cars used for interstate shipments of 
swine the regulations of the United States Bureau of Animal Industry 
specify the use of "4 ounces of Cresol Compound U. S. P. to each gallon 
of water." That is a 3 per cent solution. They also advise the addition 
of iy 2 pounds of lime to each gallon of the diluted solution to show where 
the solution has been applied. (See Amended order 210, effective Feb. 10, 
1915). The Government regulations referred to do not require that the 
litter and manure shall be disinfected before removal from the car. This 
may not be so important at the large market centers and especially where 
there are "reducing plants" for incinerating the litter and dung from the 
cars and stock yards. But at shipping stations in the rural districts the 
litter and manure should always be well mixed with a good disinfectant 
before removal from the car. Such a precaution will aid in keeping 
cholera away from the farms in the neighborhood. 

As already mentioned, carbolic acid and most of the coal-tar stock 
dips are less efficient for the purpose of destroying hog cholera infection 
than the Cresol Compound Solution. The market price of the undiluted 
liquid is about $1.25 per gallon. 

The Local Stock Yards : It is a matter of much importance in the con- 
trol and eradication of hog cholera to maintain sanitary shipping yards 
in the farming districts. And this is not an impossible task, nor ex- 
pensive if the work is properly apportioned. An attempt is being made 
to solve this problem in the counties that have organized Anti-hog-cholera 
clubs. Proper care of the healthy and sick herds on the farms, by 



DISINFECTION OF LOCAL STOCK YARDS 



21 




Duroc Jersey Boar 



methods already recommended will lessen the opportunities to carry in- 
fection to the shipping station. The shipments of sick and dead hogs is 
illegal, in some states, and should be made so in all states. It would 
work a great hardship, however, if swine raisers and feeders were not 
permitted to ship healthy "exposed" hogs that have not. developed symp- 
toms of the disease. But such hogs should be hauled to the station in 
tight-bottom wagon boxes, and should occupy a special pen at the stock 
yards while awaiting shipment. And a separate chute for loading should 
be provided. A slight re-adjustment of existing stock pens can be made 
at small cost that will meet the requirements. The spraying of hogs with 
bad smelling chemical disinfectants when these hogs are destined for 
immediate slaughter is objectionable. It is therefore all the more desir- 
able that exposed hogs, though healthy, should be provided with a sepa- 
rate pen; since the hair, skin, and feet of these hogs may carry infection, 
from the cholera infected farm, to the local stock yards. It also happens 
that in separating the apparently healthy hogs from an infected herd 
for shipment to market, a few hogs that are not visibly sick may develop 
symptoms of illness before they are loaded on the car. The excitement 
and fatigue of the infected animal, caused by the handling and hauling 
from the farm to the shipping station often hastens the development of 
the cholera symptoms and a hog that was thought to be healthy when it 
was hauled from the farm may prove to be affected with cholera. These 
acute cases of cholera are liable to badly infect the local yards, if the 
affected hogs have access to the general pens and alleys; while if put in 
the special pen for "cholera exposed" hogs, the danger of spreading the 
disease to other farms would be greatly lessened. Farmers from other 
neighborhoods would not run so great a risk of carrying the cholera in- 



22 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

fection back to their farms, by contamination of their shoes with mud 
and dung from cholera infected pens. The cholera virus would be con- 
fined to a smaller space where it could be destroyed at less expense and 
labor. A cement floor in this pen is desirable to facilitate the cleaning 
and disinfection. And it will pay any farming community to put it in. 
Two or three good sized fat hogs will pay the cost. In fact it will pay 
any farmers' club, or "Anti-hog-cholera club" of 25 or 50 members, who 
use the same shipping pens, to put concrete floors in ail the pens at their 
own expense, even if the railroads would not bear a portion of the cost. 
The loss from cholera to individual farmers have in many instances ex- 
ceeded the cost. And infected shipping yards have often been the source 
of the trouble. 

The railroad industrial agents of a number of roads have shown an 
active interest in the hog cholera eradication work as outlined herein. 
And in Knox County, where through the University Agricultural Extesion 
Department, and the County Farm Bureau of this county, a series of 
meetings was recently held and sixteen Anti-hog-cholera clubs organized, 
the Superintendent of traffic of the Santa Fe Railroad issued instructions 
to the local agents to co-operate with the University and the Farm 
Bureau, and to keep on hand a sufficient quantity of quick lime for the 
purpose of maintaining sanitary stock pens. The farmers and shippers 
belonging to the Anti-hog-cholera clubs, co-operating with the County 
Farm Adviser, will attend to the disinfection at sufficiently frequent in- 
tervals. In Johnson, Dade, Bates and Cass counties where a large number 
of farmers have also organized "Anti-hog-cholera clubs," the local agents 
of the railroads have shown a ready willingness to co-operate with the 
clubs and to do all they can to help keep the local stock yards free from 
hog cholera infection. 

PARASITES OF SWINE 

It is a matter of common observation that herds of hogs that are 
badly infested with worms and lice are less resistant, to cholera than 
herds that are kept free from such parasites. The percentage of loss 
from cholera is greater in wormy herds, and the serum treatment is less 
effective. And when such herds are vaccinated by the serum-virus 
method, a larger per cent of the animals contract cholera in a fatal form, 
than in herds that are practically free from worms. 

Worms when present in considerable numbers, in the stomach, intes- 
tines or lungs produce an irritation of the mucous membranes which 
frequently results in local congestions or inflammations that are favor- 
able to the passage of the hog cholera germs into the blood. 

There are a dozen different kinds of worms that infest hogs. But 
the ones most often found, and that cause irritation and inflammatory 
conditions that increase the susceptibility of hogs to cholera are the fol- 
lowing: (1) Common round worm (Ascaris suis) ; (2) Thorn-headed 
worm (Echinorhynchus gigas) ; (3) Lung worm (Strongylus paradoxus) ; 
(4) Kidney worm (Stephanurus dentatus). 

The first named worm, the common round worm, when full grown, 
is from 6 to 7 inches long and about 3-16 of an inch thick. But smaller 



PARASITES OP SWINE 



23 




Pig's Intestine Clogged with Worms 



specimens, of different sizes, are often found in large numbers in the 
same hogs. These worms are most frequently found in the small intes- 
tines, but occasionally a few crawl into, the stomach, and even into the 
oesophagus and out of the mouth, causing violent coughing from tickling 
the throat. A few of these worms when quite small may also pass from 
the small intestine up the gall-duct and into the liver. They sometimes 
completely obstruct the gall-duct and prevent the bile from passing out 
into the small intestine, thus producing a very yellow or jaundiced con- 
dition of the skin and fat of the affected hog. This yellowness of the skin 
is so noticeable in white skinned hogs, that the presence of these worms 
in the gall-duct and liver can often be predicted before cutting into the 
carcass. These worms are sometimes so numerous in pigs as to cause 
severe digestive troubles, and even obstruction of the bowels. I recall 
finding over fifty worms in a 35-pound pig; and a mass of worms had 
obstructed the bowel at one point. 

The "thorn-headed" worm, about the same size as the common round 
worm, also infests the small intestine; but it fastens itself to the wall 
of the gut, where it remains until fully matured. The head of this worm 
is provided with barbs or hooks pointed backward, so that when the head 
is thrust into the wall of the gut, the worm cannot be detached without 
considerable force. The irritation caused by the rough barbed head of 
this worm produces a small fibrous tumor, which is quite noticeable on 
the outer surface of the small intestine, as a white, raised lump, from a 
fourth to a half inch in diameter. The head of the worm is imbedded in 
these tumors. Sometimes a dozen of these worms will be found attached 



24 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

to the wall of the small intestine. Hogs thus infested are less resistant 
to cholera, because of the irritated bowels. When cholera attacks hogs 
with worm-infested bowels the signs of the disease are often found in 
this location, in the form of haemmorhages or an acute inflammation of 
the mucous membrane — or in the chronic form of ulcerations. It is 
therefore a wise precaution to prevent hogs from becoming infested with 
intestinal parasites. 

The next worm mentioned is the "lung worm" (Strongylus paradoxus). 
This is a small thread-like worm an inch to an inch and a half in length 
and is usually found in clumps of a half dozen or more in the smaller 
bronchial tubes, in portions of the lungs that show evidences of inflam- 
mation. On cutting through the inflamed or solid portion of lung so as 
to cut across the small air tubes, masses of the worms are sometimes 
exposed, protruding from the small bronchi. A better way is to cut 
along the trachea by means of a heavy pair of scissors, and follow the 
air tubes down into the inflamed area. Masses of mucous and worms will 
be easily found, if a serious infestation exists. This lung infestation is 
sometimes found in apparently healthy hogs that are butchered — the 
animal having shown no loss of appetite nor evidences of illness, except 
possibly an occasional slight cough. Yet when the animal is slaughtered 
the lungs may show small areas of solidification as large as a hen's egg 
or larger. And the worms mentioned may be found in these small local- 
ized areas of broncho-pneumonia. Should herds thus infested with lung- 
worms be exposed to cholera, or be vaccinated by the serum-virus 
method for protection against cholera, the already irritated lung would 
supply a favorable condition for the development of acute cholera with 
serious pneumonic complications. Hence the importance of keeping the 
hogs free from these lung parasites. 

The ''kidney worm" (Stephanurus dentatus) has never been accused 
of carrying cholera; but when we consider that this is a worm that bores 
through the tissues of the hog and finds its way to various parts of the 
body, the kidney fat and sometimes into the kidney and liver, producing 
abscesses in these organs, it is not at all improbable that in the migrating 
stage of this parasitic worm it produces minute lacerations and inflamma- 
tions in the intestinal walls, which are favorable to the passage of hog 
cholera germs into the blood. At any rate the presence of these parasites 
in the tissues of the hog cannot help but lower the vitality of the animal, 
and every precaution should be taken to prevent the pigs from becoming 
infested with these worms. 

There are other worms that infest hogs that are not regarded as dan- 
gerous to the health of the animal, unless present in excessive numbers. 
There are four and possibly five kinds of small parasitic worms that 
infest the stomach. Some of these lie free on the mucous surface — and 
probably subsist on the food contents without irritating the walls of the 
stomach. One, however, forms small cysts in the walls of the stomach; 
and another is a blood sucker (Strongylus rubidus) which causes severe 
inflammation of the stomach walls. Fortunately this latter parasite is 
rare in America, and on that account has but little significance for us so 
far as cholera is concerned. 

There are also three or four small parasitic worms that infest the 



PREVENTION OF WORM PARASITES 



25 




'21 '3! '41 '51. '6! 



Worms from a 45-pound Pig. Portion of Small Intestine at Center 

intestines, but which do not appear to cause any serious irritation of the 
intestinal walls. Of these I will mention the whip worm (Trichocophalus 
crenatus) found in the large intestine and caecum. This worm is from 
1% to 1% inches long. But the greater part of its body is so slender that 
the worm is easily overlooked, when the mucous surface is examined. 
The head portion resembles the lash of a whip, while the pos- 
terior portion, short and thick (containing the ova) represents the 
handle of the whip. The head of these worms is imbedded in the mucous 
coat of the caecum or large intestine. And the possibility exists that they 
may, if present in large numbers, cause sufficient irritation to produce 
favorable points of entry for the hog cholera infection into the blood. 
It is in this region that haemmorhages and chronic ulcerations often 
occur in cholera. 

Sometimes pin worms (small white worms V2 inch long) occur in 
considerable numbers in the large intestine. 

Trichina and tape worm cysts are so rare that their possible relation 
to hog cholera, as contributory causes, scarcely needs mention. 

Prevention: No one believes that any of the worm parasites men- 
tioned are in any way beneficial to the hog. And their destruction is to 
be desired. This can be accomplished easiest by good sanitary farm 
management. It is better to keep the worms out of the hogs than to 
try to kill and expel the worm after the hogs are badly infested. The 
latter task is sometimes a difficult one. Nearly all these parasites pass 
a part of their existence outside of the animal body, in the barn-yard 
manure and litter. And if these barn yards are given proper attention 
most of the worms and their eggs can be destroyed, so that the pigs will 
not become badly infested. The same disinfection that was recommended 
to destroy the germs of hog cholera, on the hog lots, will also destroy the 
worms, eggs and embryos of all these parasitic worms, when they have 
escaped from the body of the hog. The free use of fresh lime on the 
hog yards is the best worm medicine known, the hog does not have to 



26 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

take the dose; the worms and the eggs and embryos get it instead. The 
water supply should also be protected to prevent hog dung, worms, and 
worm eggs from washing into the ponds. 

"Worm remedies: Prevention of worm infestation is more desirable 
than treatment; and the measures recommended for hog lot sanitation 
will be a great aid. But occasionally internal medication will be neces- 
sary. The following remedies and measures are recommended. 

(1) A mixture of equal parts of salt, sulphur or hyposulphite of soda, 
Glaubers' salts and copperas (iron sulphate) and a double portion of wood 
charcoal is a good laxative tonic, which also has vermicidal properties. 
It is helpful in destroying the eggs and embryo worms in the stomach 
and intestines in the early stages of infestation. The mixture is relished 
by hogs and it can be kept in a trough under shelter where the hogs can 
partake of it at will. The ingredients should be thoroughly pulverized and 
well mixed. 

Experiments made at this Experiment Station showed that "blue 
stone" (copper sulphate) was more efficacious in destroying the thorn- 
headed worms than other drugs that were used. It can be substituted 
for the "copperas" in the above mixture, using half the quantity. 

(2) Turpentine is useful as a vermicide. It can be given in table- 
spoonful doses to a hundred pound shoat. It should be fed in greasy slop 
or milk. 

Turpentine is absorbed to some extent, and eliminated in part through 
the lungs, as well as the kidneys. It stimulates the mucous secretion of 
.the bronchial tubes and aids in the expulsion of the "lung worms." 

(3) Santonin is one of the most efficient worm remedies but is 
somewhat expensive. It can be given to hogs in doses of four to six 
grains, to the 100 pounds of live weight. It is usually combined with 
calomel and bicarbonate of soda; santonin 6 grains, calomel 4 grains, 
bicarbonate of soda, 1 drachm. By adding powdered areca nut, in 1 
drachm doses, the quantity of santonin and calomel can be reduced a 
half. 

When giving this combination the pigs should not have access to the 
first mixture containing salt — since calomel and salt may combine and 
form corrosive sublimate, which is very irritant and liable to salivate the 
pigs, and ulcerate their bowels. 

Before giving the worm medicine, the pigs should be grouped into 
bunches of ten to a dozen, according to size, so that the smaller pigs will 
not be robbed by the larger ones of their proper portion of the medicated 
food. The pigs should have no food except water for twelve to eighteen 
hours, so as to empty the bowels. 

The quantity of the medicine necessary for each lot of ten or twelve 
pigs can be calculated with sufficient accuracy, from a rough estimate of 
their combined weight, the medicine should be stirred into a thick slop 
made of shorts and water. In order to insure its more even distribution 
through the slop the dry powders should first be thoroughly mixed with 
a handful or two of dry meal and this can be sprinkled into the slop 
while it is being stirred. After feeding the slop, keep the pigs in the 
quarantine pen for twelve hours, or longer, so that the expelled worms 
will not be scattered over the hog lots. Some of the expelled worms will 



LICE AND HOG CHOLERA 



27 



r 




Duroc Jersey Boar 

not be killed and may contain numerous fertile eggs. Scatter air-slacked 
lime over the floor of the quarantine pen to destroy the expelled worms 
and their eggs. 

It is a good practice where coal is burned, to keep in the corner of 
the hog lots a pile of coal cinders. The bits of unburned coal and the 
iron and other salts contained in the ashes, are better worm remedies, 
than many of the "hog powders" which the farmers pay out money for. 
If a half bushel or more of crushed lime rock is added occasionally to 
the cinder pile it will be helpful in strengthening the bone of the pigs 
and brood sows that eat of it. No coaxing is required to get the hogs to 
attack the cinder pile. But a little salt and shelled corn thrown upon it 
makes it more attractive. 



LICE AND HOG CHOLERA 

In combatting hog cholera, the herd that is kept free from lice, is less 
liable to contract the disease than a herd that is badly infested with these 
irritant blood suckers. The resistance of lousy pigs is greatly weakened 
and the losses from cholera in such herds is usually quite heavy. The 
following measures of prevention and treatment are recommended: 

Kerosene Emulsion is very effective in destroying lice. It is made as 
follows: Dissolve a half pound of hard soap in a gallon of hot water. 
The soap is dissolved more quickly by cutting it into thin slices. When 
the soap is completely dissolved, add two gallons of kerosene. The kero- 
sene is added little by little and the mixture is stirred vigorously until a 
permanent creamy emulsion is formed. The mixing is made easier by 
churning up the fluid, by means of a hand spray pump. The emulsion 



28 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

thus made can be kept for a considerable time by pouring it into jugs 
and corking tightly. For use in killing lice on hogs this emulsion is 
diluted with 15 to 20 volumes of water. It is stirred or churned into the 
water so as to make a uniform mixture. The diluted emulsion is applied 
to the hogs by means of a sprinkling can, or a spray pump. The hogs 
that are to be treated should be put in a pen that is small enough to 
crowd them well together so that the rubbing of the animals against one 
another will insure a thorough smearing of the emulsion into the hair 
of every hog. The bedding places should be thoroughly sprinkled or 
sprayed with the emulsion. It is a good practice to clean out and burn 
the hog bedding frequently. 

Crude petroleum oils: the lighter oils are now finding favor with 
many swine breeders and feeders. It is a cheap and effective means of 
destroying lice — and can be applied in the same manner as the Kerosene 
Emulsion. The heavier oils are objectionable because they "gum up" the 
hair. When sprinkled over the hog beds, the crude oil not only kills the 
lice but it keeps down the dust and prevents bronchial irritation and the 
resulting cough and makes the hogs less liable to contract cholera. 

Dipping tanks may also be utilized by rilling them to a proper depth 
with water and adding a layer of oil 3 or 4 inches deep. Where concrete 
hog wallows are in use, it is advisable to pour in a little oil occasionally. 

The grade of oil recommended will cost from $3.50 to $4 for a 50- 
gallon barrel, and probably less when several barrels are purchased by 
farmers' clubs. 

FOOD AND WATER 

For the maintenance of health in all animals the food and water 
supply should be of good quality and free from contamination with 
disease producing organisms. 

The water supply was discussed to some extent under the section 
"streams" and "ponds" as disease carriers. Surface water if kept free 
from pollution is not objectionable, in fact often preferable to the deep- 
well water of certain sections. But the deep-well water is not so liable 
to become polluted with cholera germs, and if free from objectionable 
mineral substances, as salt, sulphur and excess of lime, is much to be 
preferred on account of the smaller danger of carrying cholera infection. 

The food supply is rarely a carrier of cholera infection. But corn 
that is hauled in a wagon box, that was used a short time previously to 
haul "sick and exposed" hogs to the shipping station, will certainly be- 
come contaminated with hog cholera virus, and give the disease to hogs 
that eat of it, unless the wagon box has been properly disinfected. Waste 
food in corn fields that have been partially hogged down may be con- 
taminated with hog cholera virus if some of the hogs that were first 
turned on the fields were infected with the disease. Other hogs turned 
into the fields later may contract cholera, if not previously vaccinated. 
Sick hogs should not be allowed to run in the fields where corn has been 
cut and shocked — as their feeding and bedding about the corn shocks is 
liable to infect the corn and fodder and transmit the disease to other 
hogs. 

The question is often asked: "Is "tankage" ever a carrier of hog 



WHOLESOME FOOD AX IMPORTANT FACTOR 



29 




Poland China Sow 



cholera infection — since, many cholera infected hogs are "tanked" at 
the packing houses. There is but little danger of transmitting cholera by 
feeding tankage. The tankage is subjected to a high degree of heat and 
germs of all kinds are destroyed. And if it is subsequently handled in a 
manner to prevent it from becoming contaminated with the germs of hog 
cholera there is no danger in feeding it. Special care should be taken 
by the men who sack and handle the tankage to avoid carrying cholera 
infection into the tankage storage room of the packing houses. The men 
assigned to this particular work should not handle cholera carcasses, 
they should not go from a cholera infected pen into the storage room 
without first changing their shoes. Proper precautions in these respects 
will prevent the tankage from becoming infected, after it comes from the 
tanks. 

Quality of the food: Hogs are sometimes fed on immature, moulded 
or worm-eaten corn that is rejected as food for horses and cattle. But 
hogs so fed will not thrive as well as when fed on corn of good quality. 
Such food is liable to contain, or form, poisonous products that cause 
irritation of the digestive tract and disturbance to digestion. Diarrhoea 
may result. The poor quality of the food is thus liable to render the hogs 
less resistant to cholera, if they should become exposed to the virus of that 
disease. This also applies to the feeding of new corn, if fed in excess. The 
starch in new corn is not fully ripened and is softer and more fermentable 
than in old corn, that is well cured and hardened; hence it is more liable 
to cause digestive disturbances and a lessened resistance to cholera. New 
corn never creates cholera but is can easily produce conditions in the 
hog that render the animal more susceptible to the disease when exposed 



30 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

to it. Care should be taken to not crowd the new corn too rapidly to a 
full feed; but to mix with it old corn and proper protein supplements. 

Balanced Rations: Hogs are fed for profit and the farmer desires 

] to get the greatest profit possible out of the feed that goes into the hog. 
That is, he desires that as much of the food as is utilizable shall be con- 

, verted into permanent tissue, flesh, fat and bone ; and that none, or but 
little, of the nutritious elements of the food shall pass through and be 
lost with the indigestible waste products, or lost in other ways. But in 
the matter of feeding, the best results cannot be attained without some 
knowledge of the "science of feeding." Many farmers have studied these 
matters and are profiting by them. And it is true that many farmers know 
how to put a large number of pounds on their hogs in a short period of 
time, without knowing anything about "balanced rations," and by following 
a fixed plan of their own. But in the case of these, it frequently happens 
that in getting their good gains in a short time, they have not done it 
in the most economical way; and have lost some of the profits that could 
have been saved. It is well, therefore, for every feeder to study the 

i matter of "balanced rations"; for this is the key to profitable feeding. 

I It is not my purpose, however, to go into the details of this subject, and 
to give specific formulae for rations, of the various mixtures of food 
stuffs that should be fed to the breeding herd, the growing shoats, and 
the fattening hogs. That phase of the work belongs to the Animal Nutri- 
tion Department. But it is proper to mention in this connection that the 
natural resistance to cholera is greatest in an animal whose physiologi- 
cal functions are kept at their best, and proper feeding is one of the 
essentials. Some mention of the principles of feeding is therefore perti- 
nent, and this I shall present in the simplest and most elementary way. 
The food stuffs upon which the animal subsists must necessarily, as 
a whole, contain the same chemical substances found in the animal body. 
The animal body requires three kinds of food substances: (1) Protein 
(or nitrogenous materials) for the building up of the muscles and other 
active tissues. (2) Energy and heat producing foods, as fats, occuring 
in the oils; and carbohydrates, in the starches and sugars. (3) Inorganic 
foods (water and mineral salts). The animal body simply appropriates 
as much of the available chemical substances in the foods as it, for the 
time being, needs, or is able to store up for future use. The excess of 
these chemical substances in the food eaten is eliminated from the body. 
And it not infrequently happens that this excess of food material that can 
not be used by the animal and is eliminated as so much waste material, 
are in fact high priced food elements which the feeder is losing because 
he does not understand the physiological needs of the animal. To illus- 
trate this matter roughly: Let us suppose that a lot of fattening hogs, 
on full feed, were left for a week in charge of a simple minded conscien- 
tious lad who knew nothing about feeding, but was told the quantity of 
corn to give but misunderstood the instructions and gave them daily, 
twice as much as they could possibly eat. The result is easily seen; a 
gross waste of corn, trampled and soiled in the mud and manure of the 
feed lot. But the same thing happens in a less degree, and in a different 
way, when hogs are fed on an unbalanced ration all the feed they will 
clean up. The feeder thinks that because the pigs eat up all the food 



SHOULD FEED A BALANCED RATION 



31 







Berkshire Sow 

given, and they are taking on weight, the ration given meets the proper 
needs of the animals — while in fact they may be wasting considerable 
food for the owner, and wasting some of their own energy in the labor of 
eating, digesting, absorbing, and trying to transform into body substace 
an excess of one class of food material in securing enough of another 
class, and expending further energy in eliminating from the body the 
excess of this good but unusable food material. This physiological mis- 
treatment of the hogs is not good for the owner's pocket-book, nor is it 
good for the health of the hogs. Certain organs of the body are over- 
worked and the animal becomes less resistant to cholera. An example 
of this is sometimes seen in hogs that are fed exclusively on corn — a 
highly carbonaceous, starchy food, a fat and heat producer. Corn con- 
tains some nitrogenous, or proteid substances, but not in sufficient quan- 
tity to properly balance the ration. Hence a greater quantity must be 
eaten in order to supply the proper quantity of protein. And the result 
seems to be that the vital tissues are lacking in tone and resistance be- 
cause of unbalanced nutrition. The tissues are over-fat and flabby, and 
the death loss in such herds is usually large when infected with cholera. 
If a proper amount of protein is added to the ration, in the form of 
tankage or oil meal, soy beans, alfalfa, etc., less corn will be required, 
the expense of fattening will be less, and the animals will be more healthy 
and vigorous. 



HEALTHFUL HOUSING 

The common ailments that are caused by weather changes, and undue 
exposure to cold and wet, are just as liable to occur in hogs as in other 
animals. They contract "colds," influenza, sore throat, bronchitis and 



22 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

diarrhoea just as children, calves and lambs do when "chilled through 
and through" by exposure to cold and wet. The thick coat of fat of hogs 
furnishes them fuel for heat and gives some protection from cold; but it 
is neither healthful for the hog nor economical for the owner, to burn 
too much hog fat to keep the herd half way comfortable on cold nights. 
It is quite important to prevent, as much as possible, the common ail- 
ments mentioned above, in order to more successfully combat hog cholera. 
The congested an inflamed condition of the air passages, and the alimen- 
tary tract produced by exposure to winter storms, are conditions, espe- 
cially favorable to contracting cholera, if the herd should become exposed 
to that disease. The resistance of the body is not only lowered so that 
the hog contracts cholera more readily, but serious complications are 
more liable to result, such as rupture of blood vessels in the lungs or 
bowels, and the development of an extensive pneumonia, or a severe type 
of bloody dysentery that will prove fatal to the animal. 

Nothing can be much worse than to allow the hogs to sleep on ma- 
nure piles and around straw stacks. The overheating of some of the 
hogs, and the subsequent exposure to cold can hardly fail to give them 
a severe attack of pneumonia. Anti-hog-cholera serum will not prevent 
deaths from cholera in such cases. Proper housing and sanitation will 
in most cases save the hogs and prevent the expense of the serum bill. 
The financial losses from lack of proper shelters, in many instances 
greatly exceed the cost of providing these essentials to successful hog 
raising. 

The practical requirements in supplying shelters for swine on the 
average farm are that the shelters shall be comfortable and sanitary, as 
well as convenient and not too expensive. The first two requirements 
relate particularly to the health of the animals. The hog shelters for 
winter should be constructed so as to prevent cold winds and rain from 
blowing in upon the hogs. A leaky roof, wet floors, and cracks in the 
walls on the windward side that permit cold draughts to blow directly 
on the hogs, invite lung troubles and losses from hog cholera. Wherever 
it is possible, advantage should be taken of natural wind-breaks in locat- 
ing the winter shelters. A strip of timber, or an orchard, at the north, 
and a sloping southern exposure of the grounds are advantageous. 

The shelters should be built so as to permit good ventilation, and 
access of sunlight in abundance to all parts of the interior. The aim 
should be to insure a moderate degree of warmth, dryness, and a proper 
supply of fresh air. The shelters should also be constructed so as to be 
easily cleaned and disinfected; otherwise they will not be kept in a sani- 
tary condition. If the essentials mentioned, which are necessary for the 
maintenance of health, are kept in mind, it does not matter so much 
about the style of the hog house or the materials used. Cheap structures 
that have been used for other purposes can at times be converted into 
comfortable hog sheds without much expense. Plans and detailed speci- 
fications for the different forms of movable and permanent hog houses 
that have found lavor with practical hog raisers can be obtained from 
the Animal Husbandry Department or from the office of the Agricultural 
Extension Service. 



TWO TYPES OF HOG CHOLERA 33 

HOW TO KNOW HOG CHOLERA 

Diagnosis. — In the control of any contagious or infectious disease 
the early recognition of its presence is of prime importance, in order 
that prompt action may be taken before it has gained great headway. 
This is particularly true of hog cholera, which is one of the most infec- 
tious of the animal maladies. The common impression among farmers 
and many veterinarians is that hog cholera presents a definite, unvarying 
train of symptoms, and that the "post-mortem" appearances in one case 
give a fair picture of what may be seen in all other cases of this disease; 
but the fact is that scarcely any other disease shows such a variety of 
symptoms, and disease changes in the internal organs, as is shown by 
cholera, including its complications. 






Types of Cholera. — There are two general types of the disease, acute 
and chronic. In the acute form a number of animals of a herd may die 
suddenly or after a very short illness; while in the chronic type the 
animals often live for several weeks, become very thin in flesh and die, 
one or two at a time. The 

cause of the disease is the / 

same in both types; the 
only difference being in 
the degree of virulence of 
the infection, or the differ- 
ence in the resistance of 
individual animals, or 
herds. In many outbreaks 
and especially in the slow 
lingering type the disease 
first appears ameng the 
pigs and shoats. The very 
acute type often appears 
first in the heavy, fatten- 
ing hogs. 

Symptoms. — The follow- 
ing symptoms will be ob- 
served in nearly every out- 
break of cholera, but not 
in every individual hog 
affected with the disease. 
Animals that succumb to 
the acute form of the 
disease show but few symptoms before death. They may eat well at night 
and be found dead the following morning. In other cases they may have 
a profuse diarrhoea, greenish, black or bloody in character; vomiting may 
occur, and bleeding from the nose, a reddening of the skin of the belly 
and legs may be seen. All these external signs may, however, be lacking 
in individual cases, but a "post-mortem" examination of such cases will 
as a rule show plain evidence of cholera. In the more chronic type of 
the disease the sick hogs cease to eat heartily, are sluggish, show an 




Blood Shot Spots on Lung in 
Acute Cholera 



34 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

inclination to burrow into the bedding and shiver as if cold, even in 
pleasant weather. After a few days the hair becomes rough, the skin 
becomes scaly or may show a reddening, either diffuse or in spots on 
the under surface of the belly. In prolonged cases of the disease ulcers 
may appear on the skin, especially about the joints. The tips of the 
ears in some cases slough off. The eyes become watery or show a 
"mattery" collection at the inner corner of the eye. The eyelids in 
some cases are glued together. Animals suffering from the chronic form 
fall off greatly in flesh, they become weak, especially in the hind 
quarters, and have an unsteady wabbling gait. Some of the sick animals 
develop a cough, and may show increased respirations; some affected in 
this manner bleed at the nose, some vomit, some have a profuse watery 
diarrhoea, the discharges in some cases being of a yellowish or ochre 
color, resembling the typhoid stools of man; in other cases the dis- 
charges are greenish or black in color, and at times quite bloody. Con- 
trary to common opinion, many hogs affected with cholera suffer from 
constipation; and at death the large intestines may be found packed with 
hard lumps of almost dry dung. Hogs suffering from cholera have an 
inclination to eat dirt and gravel, and in some cases the stomach and 
intestines contain a large quantity of this material. "Thumps" is a 
symptom often seen in cases of cholera. The temperature runs high — 
104 to 107 degrees. The younger animals of a herd often contract the 
disease first and appear to be less resistant than adult hogs. This may 
6e due to the fact that the pigs are more difficult to keep in an inclosure 
and consequently range more widely than the larger hogs and are more 
liable to come in contact with the infection from neighboring farms, and 
ingest a proportionately larger amount of infection than the larger hogs. 

Importance of Post-Mortem Examinations. — Since some of the symp- 
toms which have been given are common to other ailments, it is important 
to not rely wholly on these symptoms for a diagnosis. I cannot impress 
too strongly the importance of farmers and veterinarians making a post- 
mortem examination of the hogs that die; since an accurate diagnosis of 
cholera can by this means be more readily made; and the sooner it is 
made the better. 

Too many farmers are inclined to think that because they have not 
had a medical training it would be useless for them to make the examina- 
tions suggested. In this they are mistaken, for some of the best descrip- 
tions of diseased conditions I have read were written by farmers who 
described in plain English the appearance of the diseased organs as they 
saw them. They did not know the meaning of the changes described, 
but it was easy for me to make a diagnosis from their accurate descrip- 
tions. Every farmer knows the common name and the natural appear- 
ance of the internal organs of the hog, and they should make themselves 
familiar with the changes that occur in cholera, since expert veterinary 
aid may not be available at the time when most needed. If uncertain 
as to the nature of the disease, they can refer their descriptions to an 
expert for interpretation. If the diagnosis is made on the first few pigs 
that become sick, much time will be saved in combating the infection. 

I shall now attempt to describe as clearly and as simply as possible 



MAKING A POST MORTEM 



35 



the methods of examining the carcass of a hog, and the appearance of 
the organs that show disease changes due to cholera. 

It is essential to examine the carcass soon after the death of the 
animal, in order to avoid being misled by the ordinary decomposition 
changes that occur in the internal organs within a few hours after death. 

First, examine the skin; observe whether there are any eruptions, 
ulcers, patches of redness on the skin of the belly ("blood-shot" spots or 
patches showing through the skin). The presence of these signs with the 
symptoms already given are indications of cholera. The animal may, 
however, have cholera without showing any eruptions or other noticeable 
changes in the skin. 

Make a cut from the 
point of the chin back- 
ward along the midline 
of the neck, chest and 
belly to the tail, cutting 
first only through the 
skin and underlying fat. 
Peel the skin and fat 
well back on each side, 
examine the fat be- 
neath the skin for hem- 
orrhages, or "blood 
shot" discolorations. In 
the acute hemorrhagic 
type of tbe disease the 
subcutaneous fat is 
often the seat of numer- 
ous hemorrhages. In the 
fat of the flank region 
the hemorrhage is 
sometimes extensive. 
Mild cases of cholera 
show no disease chang- 
es in the subcutaneous 
fat. At the angle of the 
lower jaw beneath the 
skin will be found 

rounded glands, called 

Speckled Kidney in Acute Cholera 

lymph glands, which in 

the acute hemorrhagic type of cholera are often engorged with blood, 
giving to them a reddish, or even black color. In mild or chronic cases 
of cholera these glands may be enlarged, dropsical and of a normal 
grayish color. A few inches back of the glands mentioned other glands 
are located which may be highly engorged with blood. Tolerably large 
lymph glands are also to be found in the flank; observe whether these 
are engorged with blood and of a color varying from red to black. In 
some cases but little change occurs in these superficial lymph glands. 

Next cut into the abdomen and expose the stomach, liver, intestines, 
etc. Before displacing any of the organs observe whether there are any 




o 6 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

hemorrhages on the inner surface of the walls of the abdomen; note 
whether the intestines, large or small, show any spots of hemorrhages. 
In the acute type of cholera it is not uncommon to find portions of the 
small intestines thickly covered with small points of hemorrhage; and 
more frequently quite large "blood-shot" spots on the large intestines, 
and in the fatty membrane which binds together the intestinal coils. The 
outer coat of the stomach, in some cases, is also the seat of hemorrhages. 
The spleen may be enlarged and softened, or may be about normal size 
and show small blood spots on the surface, especially on the under 
surface. 

The changes that occur in the liver are not such as would attract 
the attention of the average observer. 

The kidneys in very acute cases frequently have numerous small 
blood points scattered over the surface, giving to the organ a speckled, 
"turkey egg" appearance. These small hemorrhages are more numerous 
on the lower surface. On cutting into the cavity of such kidneys, blood 
clots are often found. In mild or chronic cases the kidneys appear 
normal. The bladder may also be the seat of extensive hemorrhage, 
especially on the mucous surface. 

In some animals which have died in the same herd, as those showing 
the hemorrhagic conditions mentioned, the outer surface of all organs 
examined may appear quite normal, and no suspicion of cholera would 
be aroused; but on examination of the mucous surface of the stomach 
and intestines positive signs of cholera are often found. 

Remove the stomach and intestines and make an examination of the 
inner walls. This is best done by stripping away the fat which holds the 
coils of intestines together, then with a knife or a pair of scissors cut 
open lengthwise portions of the large intestines, beginning with the blind 
gut and continuing some distance along the large intestine. Wash away 
the dung carefully, without scraping the surface of the gut. The mucous 
surface of these parts in some animals that die of cholera appear to be 
in a healthy condition; in other cases, however, there will be seen, scat- 
tered here and there rounded ulcers varying in size from a fourth to 
three-fourths of an inch in diameter. The wall of the intestine at this 
point is thickened and the surface of the ulcer is elevated slightly above 
the mucous surface of the gut, and resembles a flat circular button, hence 
the term "button ulcer," which is applied to these ulcers. The presence 
of these ulcers can often be detected before cutting into the gut by the 
presence of a circular inflamed area on the outer surface. The thickened 
margins of the ulcer can be felt through the walls of the gut. In other 
cases there is a thick, yellowish, tough, cheesy-like exudate (diphtheritic 
membrane) covering the wall of the large intestine over considerable 
extent, and very firmly adherent. This is the result of a diffuse inflamma- 
tion of the mucous and submucous membranes. The walls of the intes- 
tines in such cases feel thick and leathery. In the acute hemorrhagic 
type of the disease, extensive hemorrhages into the large and small in- 
testines sometimes occur. So that on opening the gut, clots of blood, 
almost filling the cavity, are found. 

On opening the stomach the mucous membrane in many cases appears 



MAKING A POST MORTEM 



37 



Utc>: v 




normal, in other cases it appears greatly inflamed, and sometimes blood 
clots are found. 

Next examine the organs of the chest cavity. This cavity can be 
opened best by removing the breast bone. Cut through the cartilages 
where the ribs join the breast bone, press apart the ribs and note the 
condition of the lungs. In health they have a light pink color and col- 
lapse when the chest cavity is opened, and are soft and pliable to the 
touch. In many cases of cholera the lungs have a normal appearance. 
In other cases the lungs present a wide range of disease changes, varying 
from a few minute hemorrhages, on one or two lobes, to an almost com- 
plete solidification of both lungs. Frequently there is an extensive, straw- 
colored, coagulated 
exudate covering 
one or both lungs. 
This coagulum 
causes a slight ad- 
hesion of the lungs 
to the ribs; this 
adhesion is, how- 
ever, easily broken 
down by the fin- 
gers. In prolonged 
chronic cases of 
cholera, white fi- 
brous bands "pleu- 
ritic adhesions" are 
sometimes found 
binding the lungs 
very firmly to the 
jibs. These lung 
complications are 
often mistaken by 
farmers and by 
veterinarians for 
an ordinary pneu- 
monia or pleurisy, 
and have also been 
called "swine 
plague." 

The heart, in 
many cases, shows 
no signs of the dis- 
ease. In others the 
walls are the seat 
of numerous spots 
of hemorrhage. 
These occur more 
often on the outer 
wall than on the 

innpr snrfapp an H Lar 9 e Intestine Ulcerated 

mnei SUrrace, ana Chronic Cholera 




T<C 



tn.o ify ■ t-ir- 



38 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

at the base of the heart, on the auricles, rather than on the ventricles. 

In an outbreak of cholera, nearly all the diseased conditions men- 
tioned have sometimes been found in the first one or two animals ex- 
amined, and a positive diagnosis is quickly established. On the other 
hand, the first animal examined may reveal but little that is regarded 
as typical of the disease, and a failure to diagnose the trouble may result 
if another hog or two are not examined. It should be remembered that 
cholera is primarily a blood infection, and death may occur without any 
marked visible changes in the various organs of some of the affected 
animals. The presence of intestinal worms in a case of this kind has 
more than once misled farmers and veterinarians to an incorrect diag- 
nosis. 

The opinion has prevailed for many years that two wide-spread in- 
fectious diseases exist among the swine of the country. One called "hog 
cholera," affecting principally the intestinal tract, showing typhoid symp- 
toms and ulcerations, the other called "swine plague," and marked by 
a more or less extensive congestion or inflammation of the lungs. "While 
it has not yet been definitely proven, the indications are strong that we 
have but one disease, and that the differences which have led to the two 
names are simply complications of the one infectious malady. In a some- 
what large experience I have always found both intestinal and lung com- 
plications in different animals of the same herd, and often in one and 
the same animal. In experimental cases, hogs that have been immunized 
against "cholera" by the "hog-cholera-serum" do not contract "swine 
plague" when exposed to hogs suffering from that type of the disease. 
Moreover, the inoculation of healthy pigs with infectious blood from an 
animal suffering from one type, may produce the other type of the 
disease. I am confident, therefore, that for all practical purposes it will 
be wise to quit using the term "swine plague," and apply the popular 
name "hog cholera" to every outbreak of an infectious swine disease, in 
which large numbers of hogs die; for it is probable that the true infec- 
tious agent in every outbreak of an infectious swine disease in this 
country is the "filterable virus" of hog cholera, the existence of which 
was demonstrated by Dr. Dorset and associates. It is, however, probably 
true that the ulcerations of the intestines and their typhoid condition 
are partly due to the associated action of the ordinary colon bacillus, or 
to the bacillus described by Salmon and Smith as the hog cholera organ- 
ism, and that the "pneumonic complications" are partly due to the 
associated action of what has been called the "swine plague bacillus." 
With the evidence available, we must, however, regard these associated 
bacteria as harmless under ordinary conditions. They probably invade 
the tissues of the body only after the "true virus" of cholera has pre- 
pared the way. 

WHEN TO VACCINATE AGAINST HOG CHOLERA 

An infected herd should be vaccinated as soon as possible after 
recognition of the disease. Prompt treatment at the beginning of an out- 
break in a herd will save most of the animals, while a few days' delay 
increases the percentage of loss. An early diagonsis is therefore im- 
portant. The signs of the disease are sometimes so evident that the 



WHEN TO VACCINATE 39 

farmer recognizes the disease without expert aid. At other times the 
diagnosis is difficult, then the services of an expert should be secured. 
In the meantime the sanitary precaution — isolation and disinfection 
already recommended — should be observed in order to prevent a possible 
disastrous spread of the disease. 

When vaccinating an infected herd, all hogs that are apparently sick 
should be separated from those that seem to be healthy, and the sick 
hogs should be isolated in comfortable quarters for special handling, and 
to prevent the spread of cholera infection. 

Temperatures should be taken of the apparently healthy hogs and 
any of these that show an abnormal temperature should be separated 
from the others. The hogs that show no evidence of sickness should be 
vaccinated with the regulation dose of serum; or from a fourth to a half 
more serum than the regulation dose should be used, if the disease is 
well developed in some of the other hogs of the herd. The group that 
shows an elevation of temperature, but no outward symptoms, should be 
vaccinated with a larger dose than that required for healthy swine of 
the same size — from a half to three-fourths the quantity should be added. 
This group should be kept separate from the others and put on a more 
restricted diet. The group of visibly sick hogs should have special 
handling; the animals that are evidently beyond all aid should be slaugh- 
tered and burned. Those that still eat should be put on a restricted liquid 
diet and should receive a double dose of serum. Valuable pure bred 
breeding animals have been saved in this way. Internal medication may 
also be given — according to the individual indications, but frequent and 
rough handling should be avoided. 

As to whether the herd on adjoining farms should be vaccinated will 
depend upon the degree of exposure to the infection. If the herd on the 
adjoining farm is some distance away from the infected ones, and 
well isolated so that no communication with the infected farm is liable 
to occur, vaccination may not be necessary. Good breeders have fre- 
quently been able (before the days of vaccination) to isolate an infected 
show herd so that the home herd was not endangered. But where there 
is any special risk of the disease spreading to a neighboring herd, such 
herd should be vaccinated. The proper sanitary measures mentioned in 
preceding pages if applied on the infected farms will lessen the dangers 
of the cholera infection spreading to the adjoining farms, and this is 
more important than vaccinating all the hogs in the neighborhood. 

It is usually advisable to vaccinate the hogs on farms lying on a lower 
part of a stream, if an outbreak of hog cholera has occurred on a farm 
up the stream. But if the outbreak is recent, the prompt removal of all 
the herds away from the stream may save both the hogs and a serum bill. 

WHEtf NOT TO VACCINATE 

When a lot of feeding hogs are about ready for market and an out- 
break of hog cholera occurs nearby, it is usually advisable to ship them, 
if the markets are favorable, rather than to vaccinate and hold them a 
short period. 

There are other occasions when it is neither advisable to vaccinate 
nor to dispose of the hogs. Farmers have been advised by official bulle- 



40 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

tins to vaccinate their herds when the disease is within two or three 
miles of their farms. This is rarely necessary, since the disease can be 
checked if proper sanitary measures are promptly applied on the infected 
farms. The efforts should be directed to these infected farms rather 
than to the remote healthy herds. 

Those who advise such extensive vaccination have evidently given 
but little thought to what it means, in the way of expense and the possi- 
bilities for evil, for the advice was also to use the "simultaneous method" 
on these farms where the disease had not yet appeared. 

There are other good reasons why the farmers should not vaccinate 
their herds under these circumstances : First, on account of the unneces- 
sary cost; second, on account of the great probability of spreading the 
disease to many other farms now free from the disease. A third and 
important reason is that there are better and cheaper ways of eradicating 
the outbreak and protecting the herds that are even much closer to the 
infected farm than two or three miles. 

A little calculation will show the inadvisability of vaccinating under 
the conditions mentioned. 

Let us suppose that an infected farm lies somewhere near the center 
of a county. Measurements three miles to the north, east, south and west 
of the infected farm will cover an area of 36 square miles, or a geograph- 
ical township, or 36 land measure sections of 640 acres each. In this 
state there is an average of five farms to the section, or 180 farms in the 
township. This means that 179 farmers who have healthy herds have 
been advised not only to vaccinate their hogs because the disease is 
within two or three miles of their farms, but they are advised to inject 
hog cholera germs into their hogs, along with the anti-hog cholera serum, 
in order to secure a more lasting immunity. And this in face of the fact 
that several new centers of disease would be established. 

As to expense, in any good hog raising county in Missouri the number 
of hogs raised or fed on the farm runs from 10 to 100 head or more. The 
average in the hog raising and feeding districts is not less than 25 hogs 
to the farm, or 4500 to the township. The serum and virus bill, as shown 
by the official figures from one state, that has used the simultaneous 
method extensively, puts the average cost at 60 cents a head, on a half 
million hogs. But, if we put it at 50 cents per hog taking all sizes into 
account, the total for a township will be $2250. The veterinary fees of 
10 cents per head or $2.50 per farm would add $450 more. If we take 
into account the shrinkage in a good many of the vaccinated hogs, while 
they are going through the vaccination fever period, of 15 to 21 days, 
and the less profitable use of food during this period, the inadvisability 
of vaccinating all the hogs in two or three miles of an infected herd is 
apparent, if a better way to avoid the dangers from hog cholera is avail- 
able. Some farmers estimate that the shrinkage, and loss of feeding 
condition will average on a bunch of stock hogs or feeders at least 50 
cents per hog, if the loss should be placed at 25 cents, the cost to the 
whole township with its 4500 hogs would be $1125. A further loss would 
ensue from deaths following the "simultaneous" vaccination. Over a 
large territory the losses in individual herds are from zero to more than 
90 per cent. The State Veterinarian of Indiana reported recently in one 



WHEN TO VACCINATE 41 

of the Swine Journals, that one day in a ride of 91 miles visiting sick 
herds of swine — made sick from simultaneous vaccination — the lowest 
loss was 12 per cent and the highest was 94 per cent, in herds that were 
healthy when vaccinated. There were of course many farms that the 
veterinarian mentioned did not visit and on which the simultaneous vac- 
cination had been used, without hogs dying. But it is probable that some 
of the hogs on these farms had sufficient fever and diarrhoea to infect 
the grounds with hog cholera germs. But if we accept the statements of 
the advocates of the extensive use of virus, that the general average loss 
does not exceed 2 per cent to 3 per cent, the total loss in the township 
under consideration would be 90 to 135 hogs on the 4500 hogs raised. If 
we place the loss at 100 hogs, of a hundred pounds weight, at 8 cents 
per pound, the loss would be $800 which is certainly conservative enough. 

The total of all these figures is $4525, or something over a dollar a 
head vaccination tax, that the farmers are advised to pay for the privi- 
lege of raising hogs. This would not be so bad if there was any end to 
this special hog tax. But those who are interested in the sale of serum 
and virus seek to perpetuate this system. For the system cannot fail to 
multiply the number of infected farms. And the adjoining townships 
would soon be taken into the system. And it would continue to spread 
until the entire county is included. 

The hog raising counties of this state vary in size from ten to 
twenty-five geographical townships. The average is fourteen and a half 
townships. Multiplying the above figures by this factor, the cost to the 
average county would not be less than sixty-seven thousand dollars, and 
it would cost the whole state five million dollars or more, when the virus 
system is spread all over the state. The advice to vaccinate when the 
disease gets within two or three miles,' while doubtless intended for the 
benefit of the swine industry, is unwise and harmful, and if followed the 
serum-virus business would ultimately eat up all the profits of the hog 
raising business. The better way advocated in this booklet, which makes 
hog cholera control mainly an incident to better hog farm management, 
which includes inexpensive and effective measures of sanitation and the 
use of serum alone will in the end be more satisfactory to the swine 
raisers. 



A Good Tonic and Worm Preventive 



The following is a good mixture to keep before the hogs all the time 
as a tonic and worm preventive: "Sal soda, 3 pounds; Glaubers salts, 3 
pounds; copperas, 3 pounds; common salt, 3 pounds; sulphur, 1 pound; 
charcoal, 4 pounds. Mix thoroughly and keep in a trough in a shed. 



Feed a Balanced Kation 



Hogs do better when fed a balanced ration. For dry lot feeding try 1 
part oil meal to 6 parts corn, or 1 part tankage to 10 parts corn, or 1 part 
corn to 3 parts shipstuff. A balanced ration and good forage will 
cheapen pork production very materially. 



A Plan of Organization 

GEO. B. ELLIS, MANAGING EDITOR THE MISSOURI FARMER 

In the preceding pages of this book practically every important 
phase of "How to Control Hog Cholera" has been made thoroughly plain, 
but for carrying these suggestions into effect and finally to completely 
control and possibly eradicate hog cholera all together will require co- 
operative effort among the farmers, first by neighborhoods and followed 
by organization of the township, county and state. 

The plan of organization which is herewith outlined was worked out 
by Dr. J. W. Connaway in co-operation with the department of farm man- 
agement, Missouri Experiment Station and the same general plan may be 
followed by the farmers of any county in any state in the Union. "While 
it is always advisable to put on a campaign in a whole county, where 
that is not feasible a single school district or a township can rid the 
smaller unit of loss equally well except that there is greater danger of 
renewed infection from adjoining districts. 

Following is the way one Missouri county was organized and the 
good work accomplished: One week only was available for preliminary 
work and petitions were sent out to 100 active farmers who secured sig- 
natures. This is the form of the petition: 

"Whereas, the Farm Management and Veterinary Departments of the 
University of Missouri offer to assist in eradicating hog cholera from our 
county, provided there is interest enough among the farmers to warrant 

the undertaking, we, the undersigned, agree to attend a meeting at 

on for the purpose of having this proposition explained to us, with 

the understanding that we do not obligate ourselves to take any action 
whatever. "When we have heard the plan explained, we shall co-operate 
further if we approve of it; otherwise the matter is at an end." 

Just a week after these petitions were issued they began to return 
to the office of the coutfty agent, it was found that the petitions con- 
tained the names of over 1200 farmers out of a total of 3600 in the county. 

Meetings were posted in twenty-one places in the county and at these 
meetings four or five of which were held in a day, the symptoms of hog 
cholera and methods of sanitation and control and, also the use of serum 
were explained. After this educational campaign was ended an agent of 
the Experiment Station was put in the county to meet with these 21 clubs 
that had been organized and to visit infected farms in the county and to 
advise and assist the farmers in vaccinating their hogs and in disinfect- 
ing and cleaning up the premises. 

Under this plan of organization if an outbreak of hog cholera occurs 
in a neighborhood the fact is at once telephoned to the office of the 
agent at the county seat and he at once makes an inspection and if it is 
found that it is cholera the badly diseased animals are killed and burned, 
the others are vaccinated, the yards and pens are disinfected and the 
neighbor's hogs carefully watched until there is no further danger. 
Thus from farm to farm, neighborhood to neighborhood the agent goes 
until the whole county is free from the disease. 

(42; 



HOW ANTI-HOG-CHOLERA CLUBS ARE ORGANIZED 



rvv or jonnson COUNTY nissouRi 




The money saving to the farmers of the county is given in a statement 
by the County Farm Agent as follows: 

"It might be of interest to know what the losses were from cholera 
in our county in the three years previous to this campaign. Cards were 
sent to the school teachers, asking them to send one to each family, in 
order that we might get a report of the losses from this cause. There 
were 836 farmers who responded to this request. As these farmers were 
widely distributed 
t h r o u g hout the 
county, we think 
they are repre- 
sentative of the 
cholera situation 
in the county. If 
they are, the loss 
from cholera 
in the last three 
years was $116.76 
per farm for the 
3681 farms in the 
county. However, 
not every farm in 
the county lost 
hogs from chol- 
era. Based on the 
above figures, the 

loss for just those 

farms that lost 

hogs from chol- 
era was $495 per 

farm for these 

three years, or a 

total loss in the 

county of over 

$400,000. This 

represents the 

actual death loss 

and does not take 

into consideration 

the potential loss 

on account of 

farmers being out 

of stock hogs. 

Figuring this back 

to the loss per 

farm per year, we 

find that it aver- Map No. 2. Showing distribution of hog cholera and 

aepri $38 Q? «• herds treated from Oct. 1, 1914, to March 21, 1915. The 

& voo.at, a, Qpen circle ( 0) indicates farms where the herds were 

pretty heavy tax treated for protection. The solid (.) shows where cholera 

- was found during these six months. Compare these two 

tor one disease. ma ps to get the value of the clean-up work. 



Map No. 1. Showing distribution of hog cholera before 
the anti-hog-cholera campaign was started by the County 
Farm Bureau under the direction of Dr. J. W. Connaway, 
Veterinary Department, University of Missouri. 



rup or Johnson county i-iissoUri 




44 HOW TO CONTROL HOG CHOLERA 

"At the time the county agent finished visiting members of the 'Anti- 
Hog-Cholera Clubs' there existed some five or six infected spots in the 
county, but these were under control and cholera soon disappeared, and 
for the four weeks from the date this work ceased up to now (August 15) 
there has been no cholera within the borders of our county. 

"We do not think we are rid of cholera — in fact, we expect it to break 
out from time to time — but with the organization among the farmers we 
believe it will not become widespread again. The cases are reported 
promptly and we immediately take steps to keep them under control. The 
farmers themselves are fighting it by better feeding methods, better sani- 
tation, and by eradicating parasites. The total cost of this campaign 
was $933.19." 

Map No. 1 on the previous page will give you some idea of what the 
proposition was when the county agent, under the able direction of Dr. 
Connaway and assisted by a well trained young farmer, organized more 
than twenty 'Anti-Hog-Cholera Clubs' and began the fight to control 
cholera in Johnson County. This map shows the condition before the 
hog cholera control work began. From a careful census of the county 
the county agent ascertained that the loss from hog cholera in Johnson 
County for three years previous to the time of this clean-up work 
amounted to approximately $116 per farm on the average or a total loss 
for three years of nearly $450,000. Now turn to Map No. 2 and observe 
the cholera infected farms found in the nearly six months, Oct. I, 1914, to 
March 21, 1915. It will be observed from the legend under the map that 
about half of the farms indicated were not infected farms but on these 
farms the hogs were merely treated with serum as a means of protection. 
According to the reports the losses have been reduced from an average 
per farm of $116 to $6.25 per farm; quite a nice sum saved to the farmers 
of that county. 

A look at Map No. 2 shows that nearly all the infected farms for the 
last six months have been in the northern part of the county. Across 
the line in the adjoining county to the north there is no organized work 
for the control of hog cholera. In this territory it is reported that a great 
many farmers use the simultaneous method and that there has been a 
great deal of cholera in that territory. This shows very clearly what it 
would be worth to have the entire state all under close organization and 
strict supervision so that sanitary measures could be enforced. With the 
kind of work they have done in Johnson County extending to every county 
hog cholera could be put under control and practically exterminated in- 
side of two years. 

This co-operative control work in hog cholera will lead farmers to 
co-operate better for the eradication of other contagious diseases, crop 
pests and other troubles which are taxing the farmers of this country 
about to the limit of their endurance. 

In the organization of this work the banker, the merchant and the 
professional man can lend a helping hand and be of great service to his 
county and incidentally put himself in closer and more friendly relations 
with the farmer. The farmers of this country can not sustain a loss of 
$60,000,000 from hog cholera without the business interests of the 
country sharing in the loss. 



Profitable Pork Production 

F. G. KING, ANIMAL. HUSBANDRY DEPARTMENT, PURDUE 
UNIVERSITY, LAFAYETTE, INDIANA 

Introduction. — The ever increasing value of land and the problem of 
keeping up the fertility of the same demands that more attention be paid 
to all kinds of live stock. This is especially true of hogs since they are a 
product that is usually carried from birth until marketed by the same 
man or his neighbors. Pork will be in the future, as it has been in the 
past, the most profitable manner of marketing the great corn crops of the 
Mississippi "Valley. This is especially true in the case of the small farmer 
who understands the importance of maintaining the fertility of his soil 
by returning to the soil its fertility by the feeding of the crops on the 
land that has produced them, but who cannot afford to put a large amount 
of capital into equipment and breeding stock. No other domestic meat- 
producing animal will reproduce itself as quickly nor in such great num- 
bers as the hog. Neither will any other domestic animal, except young 
lambs, make so economical gains during the fattening period as the ordin- 
ary porker. 

Kaising Young Pigs. — The greatest problem with which the hog raiser 
has to deal is the production of the young porker up to the age of three 
or four months. This includes not only the care of the young pig but 
also that of the sow producing the pig. With the possible exception of 
better pastures, nothing will increase the profit of hog raising in the state 
more than better care and attention of the brood sow and her litter. 

Feeding Growing Animals. — In order to grow the pig successfully it 
is necessary to begin with the mother. The fact should be recognized 
that the brood sow, whether pregnant or suckling pigs, is being called 
upon to manufacture from common feeding stuff, the bone and muscle for 
her growing young. In other words, she is a machine transforming one 
kind of material into a substance of the same material, but of entirely 
different form. In doing this the machinery, her body, must be kept in 
proper running condition and the raw material, the food, must be of the 
proper composition to furnish the finished product, the pig, with the 
necessary food elements. 

Of prime importance to growing pigs, and all other growing animals, 
is the question of bone and muscle forming feeds, for until the age of 
four months, the desire of the hog raiser is to grow rather than to fatten 
the pig. Only the feeds containing an abundance of ash can furnish the 
nutrients required for the formation of bone; only feeds containing an 
abundance of protein can furnish the nutrients necessary for the forma- 
tion of muscle. The growing animal must, therefore, have a ration con- 
taining a high percentage of protein and ash. The fat and starchy feeds, 
and also protein, are used for the production of energy and heat and for 
laying on fat. In other words, the ash and protein feeds are used for 
making machinery and repairing the old or worn part, while the fats and 
starches are used for the fuel to run the machinery and for storage of 
energy in the form of fat. As the object of the feeder is to grow rather 

(45) 



46 



PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION 



than fatten the pig or pregnant sow, the per cent of fat-forming food 
should not be as great as when the fattening period is reached. 

In addition to the question of food nutrients which influences all 
growing animals, there are other factors affecting the food of the brood 
sow, one of which is the laxative effect of the food given the pregnant 
female. Not only is she the provider of food, but her body is the guar- 
dian and protector of the unborn young. Any cause that may result in a 
derangement of her body will probably result in the death or serious 
injury to the young. A food that constipates a pregnant sow will cause 
a week, sickly litter. Not only must the sow receive a laxative food but 
she must take enough exercise to insure the proper passage of all refuse 
food stuff from her body in the form of feces. This is such an important 
factor that it may mean the success or failure of the litter, for a sow 
that does not have, during pregnancy, a free passage of waste matter 
from her body cannot produce a strong, healthy litter. 

The question of the bulk of the feed is often of great importance, 
especially in the feeding of brood sows. The appetite of any animal is 
not satisfied until the stomach is full. A food that is very concentrated, 
such as the grains, etc., contains so much nutritive value that feeding 
so as to satisfy the appetite on such feeds results in the brood sow getting 
very fat. As it is not desirable to have this occur, the only way to pre- 
vent this, and at the same time satisfy the appetite of the sow, is to feed 
a more bulky ration. This is very easily accomplished during the grass 
season when pasture is available, but in winter it requires the feeding 
of more than the very concentrated grains or feeding stuffs. 

The following table of the composition of the more common feeds on 
the farm represent the different properties desired for feeding stock. The 
muscle and bone forming elements are represented by the protein and 
ash contents, respectively, the energy and fat producing elements by the 
starch and fat content, while the bulk is represented by the crude fiber 
and water content: 











l* •!-> 








c 


C 


e c 


eS C 




e 




L. » 


V 


r- fcjO CD 

O 3 « 


0> 


■V 




5 ° 


o 


<J> O 


o 


u « 


















si u 




P *- 




fc a 


.a t- 




£ g 


=2 v 


C4 a 


m o q 


fc a 



Corn 

Milk 

Fresh clover 

Fresh alfalfa 

Bluegrass 

Bran 

Middlings or shorts. 
Linseed oil meal.... 
Tankage (variable) 



10.6 


1.5 


10.2 


70.4 


5.0 


2.2 


87.2 


.7 


3.5 


4.9 


3.7 




70.8 


2.1 


4.4 


13.5 


1.1 


8.1 


71.8 


2.7 


4.8 


12.3 


1.0 


7.4 


65.1 


2.8 


4.1 


17.6 


1.3 


9.1 


12.3 


5.9 


16.0 


53.7 


4.0 


8.1 


12.1 


3.3 


15.6 


60.4 


4.0 


4.6 


9.2 


5.7 
8 to 20 


32.9 
60. 


35.4 


7.9 
8. 


8.9 



In studying this table the fact should be borne in mind that it is 
the proportion of ash and protein to starch and fat that determines the 
nutritive ratio instead of the actual per cent of each nutrient. While the 
laxative effect cannot be reduced to figures, the relative power is well 
known. The feeds, excepting the green grasses, all of which are laxa- 
tives, stand in the following relation to each other as to laxative effect, 
the more laxative being placed at the head of the list: Linseed oilmeal, 



CARE OF THE BROOD SOW 



47 




Chester White Boar 

bran, milk, tankage, shorts. Corn instead of being a laxative is some- 
what constipative except when fed in very large amounts. 

It will be noted that our principle feed, corn, is lacking in protein, 
ash, bulk and laxative effect, all of which are necessary for the best 
development in breeding and growing stock. This defect, however, can 
be easily remedied in summer by a good pasture of clover, alfalfa, and 
to a great extent, by bluegrass; and iii winter by the use of other feeds 
in connection with corn, such as leguminous hay, milk, bran, oilmeal, and 
shorts or tankage, the last three of which, however, are lacking in bulk 
for brood sows not having access to pasture or bulkier feeds. 

Another factor that often means success or failure, is that of exercise 
for the brood sow and litter. It is almost impossible to keep in good 
condition the digestive and reproductive organs of breeding and growing 
stock that do not have sufficient exercise. It not only tends to cause 
them to fatten, but it also leaves the digestive tract closed and leads to 
constipation and other disarrangements of the system which, occurring 
in the pregnant sow, cause weak and sickly litters to be farrowed. Or- 
dinarily it is no trouble to get sows or pigs to take sufficient exercise, 
except in very bad weather, especially if a winter pasture, such as wheat 
or rye, is provided. But should a sow become sluggish and refuse to take 
a fair amount of exercise, some means of compelling her to do so should 
be resorted to. 

The Unbred Sow. — Until the sow is bred the care and management is 
*rery simple. She is in a state of storage, so to speak, for future useful- 
ness. If she has not been suckling a litter or for any other reason is in 
medium flesh, she requires very little grain if on a good pasture and this 
grain may consist almost entirely of corn provided the pasture is of a 
leguminous nature. If there is no pasture available the feed should con- 



48 PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION 

tain some bran or shorts or from 5 to 10 per cent of oilmeal or tankage 
or meat meal. The sow should not be in very heavy flesh but be gaining 
when breeding time conies. It is easier to get a sow to take the boar 
and to conceive if she is in only medium flesh and gaining in weight when 
bred. If a sow is producing two litters yearly barely time is given be- 
tween weaning of pigs and breeding time to get her to gaining well before 
breeding, so that there need be no material change in her feed after the 
pigs are weaned. 

The Pregnant Sow. — From the time the sow is bred until a few days 
after farrowing time is the period when she exerts her greatest influence 
over the offspring. The feed during this time should, therefore contain the 
material to form the muscle and bone of the young undeveloped pigs and 
at the same time not get the brood sow so fat that she becomes sluggish. 
Corn is too cheap and common to be entirely omitted from any ordinary 
feeding ration, but the cheapness of corn, which is a fattening rather than 
a growing feed, must not over-balance everything else. The effect of a 
ration of corn upon the development of the internal organs has been 
shown to be that of a fattener rather than a developer. In a trial to test 
this matter the heart, liver, spleen, and kidneys did not develop as well 
and the amount of fat deposited upon them was greater when a ration of 
corn alone was fed than when bran or cowpeas was added to it. Animals 
made fat on corn alone contain more internal fat than those fattened on 
a more nitrogenous ration. Therefore, brood sows may be kept much 
fatter on a mixed ration without injury than on a ration of pure corn. 
It is a well known fact that farmers who feed sows very little except 
corn, prefer to have their sows in a much thinner condition than those 
who feed a ration containing more protein in proportion to the starch in 
the food. 

The ration for the pregnant sow should consist if possible of a good 
pasture. If pasture is good, a limited ration of corn alone will keep the 
sow in good condition. Feed of this kind is good in that the pasture, if 
leguminous, furnishes bulk, protein, and laxative effect, while the corn 
gives a concentrated ration. One of the best methods of management is 
to have a rye or wheat field or bluegrass pasture to use in winter, thus 
getting the sows to take sufficient exercise. 

If no pasture is available a mixed feed containing some bulk and lax- 
ative constituent should be fed with corn. A few good rations are: 

Corn 60-65%, shorts 30%, tankage 5-10%; 

Corn 60%, shorts 30%, oilmeal 10%; 

Corn %, shorts Vs, bran y 3 ; 

Corn y 3 , shorts %, oats y 3 . 
These rations have proven very satisfactory and are examples of how 
the feeds should be mixed. No matter what other feeds are used if alfalfa, 
cowpeas or bright clover hay is available, it should be kept before them 
at all times. It is best to keep this hay in racks much the same as for 
sheep except that the racks rest on the ground so the hogs can get to 
the hay. Good alfalfa hay and corn alone make a good ration for brood 
sows especially when they are not being kept in very high condition. 

The houses should be dry and well bedded and the sills low enough 
that the belly of the sow passes over them without difficulty. If there 



CARE OF SOW AND LITTER 



49 




Poland China Boar 



is no pasture over which the sow roams to get exercise, the house or cot 
should be at the opposite end of the lot from the feeding place, thus, 
making the sow take exercise. 

Care of Sow at Farrowing Time. — The care and management at far- 
rowing time is very important for then is one of the most critical periods 
in the production of pork. This is especially true if the numbers of sows 
kept is so large that they are crowded in the least for room. The care at 
this time depends very largely upon the animal and the weather condi- 
tions. If the sow is in good health and vigorous, there is usually no 
trouble to be feared. She should be placed in her farrowing quarters a 
few days before she is due to farrow in order to let her get accustomed 
to them. The feed should be limited for a day or two before farrowing, 
and should be of a laxative nature so as to prevent any tendency toward 
constipation. Ordinarily it is better to leave the sow to herself than to 
try to help her, which in her fevered condition excites her and often 
causes her to trample upon or mash the pigs. 

The mashing of the pigs is the most serious danger to be feared at 
this time. It is impossible to entirely prevent the loss from this cause, 
but the conditions that will reduce it to a minimum are to have the sow 
in good physical condition; let her receive only a small amount of warm 
laxative feed for a day before farrowing and have her placed in quiet, 
comfortable quarters. In the farrowing pen, from which the other hogs 



50 PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION 

are excluded, there should be a rail set eight inches from the floor and 
six to twelve inches from the wall. This prevents the sow from lying too 
close to the wall, and gives the pigs a chance to creep under the rails for 
protection. The floor should be smooth and level and have only a small 
amount of bedding which should be fresh and clean. A large amount of 
bedding prevents the pigs from moving freely to escape the sow and also 
works under the protection rail. If the weather is not cold the sow 
should be left alone. If cold, a lantern in the, individual house keeps it 
much warmer. It sometimes proves useful to have some way of warming 
the pigs, such as a warm blanket with a jug of hot water or a hot stone 
wrapped in it. The pigs can be placed in a basket and wrapped in this 
blanket until the sow has finished farrowing and then placed to the teats 
and be warmed by the milk. The after-birth should be removed from the 
pen because it is believed that some sows are started to eating pigs by 
first eating the after-birth. 

Sow and Litter. — From the time the pigs are born until weaned the 
sow is under the heaviest strain and needs a pretty good feed to prevent 
her from getting poor. For a few hours after farrowing, the sow needs 
no feed other than water which has been warmed enough to have the 
chill removed. After twelve or twenty-four hours she should receive a 
warm feed of medium to thin slop of some ground feed, or milk. Very 
little corn should be fed at this time as it is very heating and may in- 
crease the fever. The feed should consist as nearly as possible of the 
same ingredients as was fed before farrowing. The feed should be in- 
creased as fast as the pigs can use the milk. The feeding of cold feed 
or water to newly farrowing sows often causes indigestion or chill that 
retards the flow of milk. Too heavy feeding for the first few days may 
result in too sudden stimulation of milk flow, which scours the pigs and 
causes their death or injury. Pigs that have been scoured by too heavy 
flow of milk or by fevered condition of the sow very seldom make as 
good growth as if they have not been thus injured and are often killed 
outright. After the pigs are large enough to use all the milk, the more 
milk producing feed used the better. The rations mentioned for the 
pregnant sow do well for the sow at this time. The milk producing feeds 
should be reduced as the pigs get near weaning time and more corn 
used in the ration, which should be greatly reduced, thus gradually 
causing the sow to "dry up." 

While the pigs are small, care should be taken that the quarters 
are clean, as dirty quarters as well as too heavy feeding cause scours 
in pigs. Exercise is also essential as lack of it with heavy feeding usually 
causes constipation which leads to thumps. For this reason the sow and 
litter should not be confined to a small pen or be fed at the same place 
as quartered. The benefit to be derived from short walks from the house 
to the feed trough is surprising. Getting the sow and pigs into the sun- 
shine is very essential to proper growth during the spring and fall. 

Until the pigs have reached the age of three or four months they 
should not be made excessively fat, especially if they are of a very early 
maturing type, since they may become fat and "chubby" before they have 
reached a desirable size, and after reaching such a condition it is usually 
unprofitable to try to carry them to a very much heavier weight. For 



FEEDING YOUNG PIGS 



51 




Yorkshire Boar 

this reason it is desirable to make young pigs grow rapidly rather than 
get too fat. Therefore, there should be an abundance of muscle and bone 
producing feeds and a large amount of exercise. This is especially true 
if any of the young stuff is to be kept for breeding purposes. 

When the pigs are about three weeks old they will begin to use feed 
other than the dam's milk. At first they nibble at grass or taste of the 
sows food until soon they are eating a' large enough quantity to justify 
giving them some feed of their own. Shelled corn is one of the easiest 
feeds with which to teach pigs to eat but should not be their sole feed 
when they have learned to eat well. The pigs show their greatest re- 
sponse to a balanced ration before they have reached the weight of 125 
pounds. Milk is about the best feed that can be given pigs. A slop of 
corn meal, shorts, and tankage or oilmeal give very excellent results. 
The rations should be compounded of some of the following feeds, always 
using corn as the basis: 

Corn not more than 90% 

Shorts or shipstuff not more than 50% 

Milk no limit 

Oats not more than 33%% 

Wheat not more than 50% 

Oilmeal not more than 20% 

Tankage not more than 10% 

Meat meal not more than 10% 

Bran not more than 33%% 

These feeds should be fed in a small enclosure near where the sow 
is fed but with openings in it too small for her to enter. The opening 
or creep should be so that the pigs go between vertical boards rather 
than under horizontal ones. Also, by all means, a pasture of clover, 
alfalfa, cowpeas, bluegrass and white clover, rape, or other green feed 



52 PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION 

should be furnished. No other investment pays like a good pasture for 
hogs. When weaning time comes the pigs must be eating well. Remove 
the sow from the pasture and place her in dry lot with very light feed 
of corn for a few days to stop the milk flow without caking the udder. 
She may be returned once a day for a few days to let the pigs milk her 
out well. A few of the runt pigs may be allowed to go with her or the 
large pigs may be removed to another pasture and leave the sows in the 
pasture with the small pigs. The weaning should usually be done when 
the pigs are 8 to 10 weeks old. 

No matter how the weaning is done the feed of the weaning pigs 
should be of practically the same nature as was fed before weaning. 
If good pasture is available more corn can be used than otherwise but 
if dry lots are used as in the case of fall pigs a mixed feed is essential 
to best results. Often in dry lots the gains can be doubled on weaning 
pigs by feeding corn 60%, shorts 30%, tankage 10% instead of corn alone. 
When a slop is fed the best results can be secured only when the pigs 
of the same size are fed together, otherwise the larger ones crowd out 
the smaller ones that soon become runts. A creep for the small pigs 
helps some in a case of this kind but is not entirely satisfactory. Always 
keep the trough clean. The pigs do better if the troughs are clean and 
do not run as much risk of getting disease. Give them a dry place to 
sleep. A large amount of bedding is not necessary if the shelter is dry. 
The houses should be free from dust which is very detrimental to pigs. 
Give plenty of exercise, pasture and sunshine. 

PASTURE FEEDING OF HOGS 

The fattening of hogs may be safely divided into two periods — dry 
lot and pasture feeding. The cheaper time is that when pastures can 
be secured. Probably as large a loss as occurs in the fattening of hogs 
is in the failure to provide the proper kind of pasture for the fattening 
or growing hogs. Numerous trials have shown that the gains received 
from a bushel of corn can be increased from 20% to 50% and in some 
cases 100% by the use of a good pasture. 

The best kind of pasture to use is shown by the answers to a ques- 
tion submitted by the author to the best hog raisers of the state as to 
what they considered the best forage crop to grow for hogs. Of 159 
replies, 114 gave either clover, alfalfa, or cowpeas as the most profitable 
forage, and 21 other replies mentioned one of these three in connection 
with some other crop, leaving only twenty-four stockmen preferring non- 
leguminous crops. Of these twenty-four twelve preferred rape alone and 
three others rape in connection with some other crop. Next in favor 
after these four forages came bluegrass and white clover. 

Pasturing Clover or Alfalfa. — Clover is a good hog pasture. It fur- 
nishes an abundance of excellent pasture that supplies the necessary 
nutrients lacking in corn; it fertilizes the ground while growing; and 
it fits perfectly into a ration where corn is the principal crop. The gen- 
eral distribution and popularity of clover as a forage crop is due to its 
great adaptability to the conditions found in most states and there is no 
serious drawback to it as a hog pasture. There are, however, some pre- 



CLOVER AND ALFALFA FOR HOG PASTURE 



53 



I * 



Yorkshire Sow 



cautions to be taken with it. It is, in addition to being a biennial, more 
easily killed by heavy pasturing than is bluegrass or timothy. If heavily 
pastured when small, the hogs eat off the crown and kill the plant, and 
too heavy pasturing at any season of jthe year may cause serious injury. 
If the clover is to be pastured heavily, the hogs should not be turned 
in until it is several inches high. Clover is at its best for hog pasture 
when heading or blossoming, but if the hogs are not turned in until the 
clover reaches this stage it will take a very large number to keep the 
pasture from getting too ripe. After the heads are ripe the plant is so 
woody that the hogs do not relish it as a pasture. When the plant is in 
this stage it should be cut and a new and succulent growth allowed to 
spring up. The clover can be pastured heavily enough to keep from 
getting woody but, when this is done, a dry spell is apt to cause its 
death. Alsike clover is better in some regions than red clover, especially 
in low moist ground. It will supply almost as much pasture as the red 
variety, if sown at the same time and furnishes pasture for about the 
same period. 

Alfalfa is a feed of the same character as clover but is shown by 
the experience of its users to be somewhat superior to the latter as a 
hog pasture, both as to quality and amount of feed furnished. "While an 
acre of clover will pasture from 8 to 12 hogs averaging 75 to 125 pounds, 
the same area of alfalfa will pasture 15 to 20 head of the same sized hogs. 
Alfalfa comes earlier in the spring than clover, and if kept from heading 
will make a green, succulent, nitrogenous forage from spring until heavy 
freezing comes in the fall. Not only does this plant give a good forage 
during the growing season, but the hay, especially the last cutting, will 



54 



PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION 



furnish a high class roughage for hogs in winter and anyone who has 
used alfalfa hay for this purpose never fails to recomemnd it very highly. 

The same precautions should be taken when pasturing alfalfa as 
when pasturing clover, i. e., the hogs should not be turned on before 
the pasture is well started, should not be pastured while the land is very 
wet, nor so heavily that the plant does not grow well, and should not 
be allowed to grow large enough to get woody. If the purpose is to use 
the alfalfa solely for pasture, the field should be divided and one part 
pastured while the other is growing. The common practice, however, 
is to allow enough pasture so that about two crops of hay are harvested 
each year while the hogs are using it for pasture. By cutting the halves 
of the field a few days apart, one part is furnishing pasture while the 
other is being cut. for hay. In this way pasture is furnished for a large 
portion of the year. 

Feeding on Clover or Alfalfa Pasture. — The composition and charac- 
ter of forage furnished by clover and alfalfa are so nearly the same that 
the best methods of feeding for one will apply equally Avell for the other. 
As neither of the two plants furnish enough seed for any considerable 
part of the ration, their feeding value as pasture rests on the forage 
alone. Both plants furnish an abundance of protein for the growing hog 
and make the very best material to balance a ration of corn. 

For well grown hogs a ration of corn alone on clover or alfalfa 
pasture gives probably as cheap gains as any ration that can be fed. The 
class of hogs to which this applies is usually fall pigs that are well 
grown and not requiring a great amount of muscle production. The effect 
of feeding a supplement to corn on alfalfa pasture is shown by the results 
given by Nebraska Experiment Station in Bulletin No. 94 where three 
lots of ten 145-pound fall pigs were finished on alfalfa pasture, beginning 
May 14th and fed for 56 days on corn alone or different proportions of 
corn and tankage, which is probably the best of supplements to corn. 



Ration with Pasture 




OS bo 



Soaked corn 
Soaked corn 95% 
Tankage 5% 
Soaked corn 90% 
Tankage 10% 



216 
229 



230 



71 


1.26 


416 


85 


1.51 


371 


86 


1.53 


366 



These results, as was expected, show a more rapid gain where a sup- 
plement like tankage was fed with corn, than with corn alone, thus mak- 
ing the hog come to a good marketable weight at a somewhat earlier age. 
It will be noted, however, that corn alone and alfalfa pasture made a 
gain of V-k pounds per day for a period of 56 days. The corn and tankage 
made a gain of little more than iy 2 pounds per day. The grain required 
to make 100 pounds of gain was much less when tankage was fed with 
corn than when corn alone was used, the amounts being 366 pounds for 
one-tenth tankage ration, per 100 pounds gain, 371 pounds for one-twen- 
tieth tankage ration, and 416 pounds for corn alone. With the price of corn 



SUPPLEMENTS TO CORN TO FEED ON PASTURE 



55 




A Bunch of Hampshires 

at 60 cents a bushel, and tankage at $44 per ton, the cost per 100 pounds 
gain, not counting pasture, was $4.45 for corn alone, $4.18 for nineteen- 
twentieths corn, and one-twentieth tankage, and $4.33 for nine-tenths corn 
and one-tenth tankage, thus showing & slight saving by feeding a small 
amount of tankage with corn. This experiment shows that if the extra 
work of providing and feeding tankage is not too great, and more espe- 
cially when pastures are not very strong and corn is high priced it may 
pay to feed some kind of supplement with corn to hogs on clover or 
alfalfa pasture. . As a general proposition, however, the margin in favor 
of a supplement to corn on clover or alfalfa, is not enongh to justify the 
extra labor of securing and feeding it. 

This is not the case, however, with small pigs. They cannot con- 
sume sufficient roughage to balance the corn they should eat in order 
to make the most rapid growth. For this class of hogs the best farmers 
have found that they get much faster and cheaper gains by adding a 
supplement to their corn. This, of course, entails the expense of extr.a 
time and labor but more than pays for the cost of extra gains. This is 
especially true where a rapid growth is desired. Of course, as the pigs 
get larger and more able to consume large amounts of roughage, corn 
alone can be more extensively used. 

The time at which the hogs are to be marketed determines largely 
the best ration to feed young pigs on clover or alfalfa pasture. When 
it is desired to grow hogs only, without trying to fatten them, it is best 
to feed only an ear or two of corn daily per pig; when it is the purpose 
to "push" them from weaning time until finished they can be full fed 



56 



PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION 



on pasture without the danger of too early fattening that there is where 
grain has to be depended upon to make the greater portion of the gain. 

An excellent example of the two methods of feeding young hogs on 
clover or alfalfa pasture is given by a trial at the Nebraska Experiment 
Station where 90 forty-two-pound pigs were divided into three equal lots 
and fed for four months on light, medium, and heavy grain rations and 
then full fed until fat in dry lot. The results of this trial as reported in 
Bulletin No. 99 are as follows: 















a 


to , 






.,_> 










ftfi 


Lot 


a 


w 

Cfl fH 


no £y 

c 

ta.g 
'3 t* 
!> » 


Is 


to 

CO A) 

O ft 




ft . 
go 

OS 


Grain to 
fatten a 
from wea 
ing time 


1. Light fed 


230 


42 


233 


191 


.83 


377 


12.86 bu. 


2. Medium fed 


221 


42 


236 


194 


.87 


391 


13.54 bu. 


3. Heavy fed 


165 


42 


228 


186 


1.13 


395 


12.80 bu. 



Note that when the pigs were fed one pound of corn per 100 pounds 
weight for 119 days, and then full fed, it required 230 days to get ready 
for market; whereas, the pigs of the lot fed two pounds of corn daily per 
100 pounds live weight for 119 days, and then full fed, required 221 days; 
and the pigs which were fed 3% pounds of corn daily per 100 pounds 
live weight for 119 days and then full fed, were ready for market in a 
total of 165 days, or 5% months from the time they weighed 42 pounds, 
thereby finishing the pig at seven months old, weighing about 225 pounds. 

It will be noted that the finished weight of the hogs of these three 
lots varied only 7 pounds. The average gains made daily were .83, .87, 
and 1.13 respectively. 

The grain required per pound of gain was 377 pounds for the light 
fed lot, 391 pounds for the medium fed lot, and 395 pounds for the heavy 
fed lot. This means that 12.86 bushels of corn was required to fatten a 
pig under the system of light feeding for the first four months after 
weaning, 13.54 bushels for the medium feeding system, and 12.80 bushels 
for the system of rather heavy feeding from weaning time. Under the 
three systems of feeding, then, we find that very light feeding on pasture 
and then heavy feeding at fattening time gives somewhat cheaper gains, 
pound for pound, than a heavy feed from weaning time, but that it takes 
two months longer by the first method to get the hogs ready for market. 
The time to have the hogs ready for market would depend on market 
conditions, prevalence of disease, etc. Moreover, the difference is so 
small that an expensive season for finishing hogs, such as the cold 
months of winter or the hot months of summer, can profitably be avoided 
by forcing the hogs from the start. 

Pasturing Bluegrass and Timothy. — Bluegrass, in conjunction with 
white clover, and in some cases red clover, is a pasture that is found 
on practically every farm in central and north Missouri. Its popularity 
rests on its hardiness and the fact that it is a perennial, and once estab- 
lished is hard to kill out, and also makes excellent pasture. Neither is 
there the danger of scouring among hogs on bluegrass pasture that there 
is in some other kinds, such as young clover or alfalfa. Bluegrass also 



BLUEGRASS AND TIMOTHY PASTURE 



57 




Duroc Jersey Trio 
comes early in spring and furnishes good fall and fair winter pasture. 
It should be pastured heavily enough to prevent any extra growth, be- 
cause bluegrass that has become rank and growthy gets woody, and when 
in this condition is not a satisfactory pasture for hogs. There is a 
period of from two to three months during the summer just after seed- 
ing, when bluegrass is in its resting stage and is too dry and woody to 
give good hog pasture, and has to be supplemented with some other 
crop, such as clover, sorghum, rape, etc., that can be sown in spring and 
be ready for pasture by July. The resting period of bluegrass, coming 
at the time of year when the hot weather makes a green pasture all the 
more necessary for success in hog raising, is one of the most objection- 
able features about bluegrass as a pasture for hogs, and every farmer 
should prepare for this period by providing some other kind of pasture. 

The value of timothy as a pasture is hardly as great as that of blue- 
grass, for the reason that bluegrass is suitable for pasture much earlier 
in the spring and will last much longer in the fall, and also contains 
white clover, which is seldom found in timothy. The timothy, however, 
does not get as tough as the bluegrass and will spring up sooner after 
being cut, thus shortening the period of rest in mid-summer. Timothy, 
however, when it begins to joint, gets woody unless cut when very green, 
and when managed in this way is not long lived. 

Feeding Spring Pigs on BInegrass and Timothy. — The feeding value 
of the two grasses as a pasture are so near the same that the best method 
of feeding on one kind will apply equally well to the other kind of 
pasture. Both timothy and bluegrass are lacking in protein, which is 
used to form muscle and bone. Clover, however, is well supplied witt 



58 



PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION 



this material, and when mixed with timothy or bluegrass, makes a well- 
balanced pasture. Corn, which is also lacking in protein, does not make 
the best feed for hogs on a pasture' consisting wholly of timothy or blue- 
grass. Clover in the pasture, however', furnishes the necessary nutrients 
for growing stock. When there is not enough clover in a pasture to 
furnish a large proportion of the forage, there is a need, especially with 
shoats, for a feed consisting of more than corn alone. The amount of 
clover available determines to a large extent the needs for these sup- 
plemental feeds. This is shown very clearly in an experiment, conducted 
at the Iowa Experiment Station, with the hogs running on timothy pas- 
ture and fed corn and supplemental feeds, and another lot on clover 
pasture and fed corn alone. The summary of the experiment is given 
below in Bulletin No. 91, Iowa Experiment Station: 



Pasture. 


Grain ration. 


_5tfC 

'3 be 


bj 

a 
a 

TO 0) 

Ofl 




u 

0) 

ftfi 

cr'S 

.5 to 
a 

5* 


"3 
Op, 


Timothy 
Timothy 




. 59.9 


103.4 


0.923 


451.4 


4.17 


Corn 2, shorts 1 


. 59.8 


125.5 


1.120 


409.9 


4.59 


Timothy 


Corn 1, shorts 1 


. 59.8 


133.2 


1.180 


398.0 


4.74 


Timothy 


Corn 5, meat meal 1. . 


. 60.1 


138.5 


1,237 


409.6 


5.07 


Timothy 




. 60.1 


153.9 


1.374 


398.4 


5.48 


Clover 




. 59.9 


133.7 


1.193 


4]6.1 


4.97 



It will be noted that the gains made on clover pasture and corn were 
faster than those made on timothy pasture and corn and shorts, but not 
as fast as those on timothy pasture and fed corn and tankage or corn 
and meat meal. Based on this data, corn alone fed on a clover pasture 
is equal to a ration of one-half corn, one-half shorts on timothy pasture, 
and superior to a ration two-thirds corn, one-third shorts on the same 
kind of pasture. The value of feeding some grain containing an excess 
of protein, to hogs on timothy pasture, is shown by the more rapid and 
more economical gains made by the pigs fed corn and shorts, and corn 
and meat meal or tankage. The rate of gain was increased 30 to 50 per 
cent by using a meat by-product, and from 12 to 20 per cent by using 
shorts with corn. 

The above results are borne out by the results secured by the best 
hog raisers of the state who use bluegrass and timothy for hog pasture. 
These results are for the time just following weaning when the pig is 
being started to growing well after being weaned. As the shoat gets 
larger, it is a good policy to increase the amount of corn and in most 
cases to decrease the amount of slop fed or to stop feeding it altogether. 
While in general it gives faster gains to feed a supplement to corn, a pig 
that has received a ration containing sufficient bone and muscle-forming 
food until six months of age, will with good pasture do very well until 
ready for market on corn alone. In order to secure best results with 
pigs before they are six months old, however, it is necessary, unless a 



COWPEAS AND RAPE FOR PASTURE 



59 




Chester White Trio 

good clover, alfalfa, cowpea, or rape pasture is available, to feed some- 
thing in addition to corn. 

Cowpeas as Hog Pasture. — The cowpea is a quick growing plant and 
furnishes an abundance of pasture in the fall. It requires 70 to 100 days 
to mature, and if planted May 15 to June 1, will be ready to pasture by 
the middle of August or sooner, by which time the pods will be ripening. 
An acre of well-grown cowpeas turned on when the pods are ripening 
will often furnish pasture for 15 to 25 one-hundred-pound pigs for from 
one to two months, and when corn is fed in connection with this pasture 
the rate of gain is very rapid and the cost of gain very small. For fall 
pasture cowpeas are more popular in some localities than clover. 

One of the greatest uses of cowpeas is in connection with corn to 
be "hogged down." They can be mixed in the planter box with an early 
variety of corn and planted with the corn. They can be sown broadcast 
and covered with a cultivator at the last cultivation, or they can be 
drilled between the corn rows after the corn is "laid by" with either a 
one-horse corn drill or a one-horse grain drill. An acre of such mixture 
has been known to make as high as 1000 pounds of gain on hogs. It 
requires a season with good late rains, however, to make satisfactory 
growth with cowpeas in corn and a dry season may result in an unsatis- 
factory growth of the cowpea. 

Rape for Pasture. — On the best regulated farms there are times 
during the year when regular pasture is short. On such occasions a 
rapid growing plant is in demand. Rape comes nearest to filling the 
need of any plant available. It has been found to be almost as valuable 
for producing gain as clover and will be ready for pasturing in about 



6Q PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION 

six weeks after being sown. It can be sown early in the spring and it 
will endure a pretty severe frost in the fall before it is injured. It is 
a gross feeder and requires a very fertile soil to make a satisfactory 
growth. Barn lots are the most common places for growing this plant 
but it does well on any fertile soil and in corn fields when sown at the 
last cultivation. It requires a well prepared seed-bed, but can be sown 
either broadcast or in drills. When broadcasted it requires about 3 to 5 
pounds of seed per acre and when drilled about 2 to 3 pounds per acre. 
It can be sown so as to furnish forage at any time of the growing season, 
and if necessary can be used as the principal pasture for hogs. It must 
not, however, be pastured too closely and must be given an opportunity 
to get well started before being pastured. The amount of land sown to 
rape need not be large, because it is worthless except for pasture or 
soiling, and one acre will pasture fifteen to twenty hogs for a period of 
two or three months. 

Oats as a Hog Pasture. — Another plant that can be sown for a time 
of pasture shortage is oats. Early sown oats will do to pasture early in 
the spring, when the hogs have to be taken from the rye or wheat. It 
may also be sown with rape and make more forage than with oats alone, 
but there is the danger of the oats getting too woody and being trampled 
down. Oats can be pastured lightly from the time they are three or four 
inches high, and continued until heads are forming, when the hogs should 
be removed until the grain is in the milk, when if desirable, they can 
again be turned in and allowed to harvest the grain crop. Oats are 
especially good for sows and pigs, and for furnishing early pasture. The 
composition of the oat plant is such that it does not furnish the proper 
nutrients to balance a ration of corn alone for growing hogs; hence on 
oat pasture the hogs should have a limited amount of nitrogenous sup- 
plement, such as shipstuff, linseed oilmeal, or a small amount of tankage 
or meat meal. 

Sorghum or Cane. — Sorghum deserves a good place in the list of 
useful short-lived forage crops for hogs for hot weather and drouths. 
It is especially useful on account of the large number of hogs it will 
pasture, furnishing enough forage for twenty to thirty hogs per acre. 
It is not as palatable and nutritious as the other forage crops mentioned, 
but is used by many as a dry weather crop. It can be sown in May and 
be ready for pasture in July. It will last during July, August and Sep- 
tember, and often later, and is especially useful during the dry months. 
The composition of sorghum is also such that it requires a supplement 
to the corn fed to obtain the best results. 

Winter and Early Spring Pasture. — There is probably no greater loss 
to the hog raisers of the state than the lack of suitable pasture for hogs 
in winter. Of course, there are times during the winter when it is en- 
tirely impossible for hogs to get anything green to eat, but during a 
large part of the winter the weather is such that it is possible for them 
to graze upon some kind of pasture. Pasture in winter and early spring 
serves not only the purpose of furnishing a green feed, but also induces 
the hogs to take exercise, which they would not otherwise do, both of 
which will tend to keep the shoats in a healthy, vigorous condition. With 
some kind of green forage to pick at, pigs will take sufficient exercise 



WINTER AND EARLY SPRING PASTURE 



61 




Berkshire Trio 

that practically all danger of thumps will be removed. As is well known, 
two of the worst things that the hog raiser has to guard against in 
winter are thumps and constipation, both due, to a large extent, to a 
lack of exercise or some laxative food, and which can be remedied by a 
green pasture during as many of the winter months as possible. Of 
course, it is impossible to furnish the best of pasture for three months, 
from December 15 to March 15, but even during these three months a 
field of rye, wheat, or bluegrass makes an excellent place for hogs to 
forage. 

For early winter pasture, the succulent forage may do well until 
freezing weather. Clover, alfalfa, etc., if of good growth may last that 
long. Rape will make good pasture sometimes as late as Christmas. 
Cowpeas can be pastured late in the fall, and give a large amount of 
forage; but from freezing time until grass comes in spring, any green 
forage for hogs requires a special crop. Rye, wheat and bluegrass are 
about the only plants that are of much value for the winter months. If 
the bluegrass has a good growth in the fall it makes excellent pasture 
in winter and early spring. If pastured close in the fall, however, this 
grass furnishes little pasture during the winter. Wheat is in general 
use as a winter crop for pigs, and can be sown at the right time to make 
a good crop of grain the next summer, and at the same time furnish 
good pasture in either winter or early spring. Rye is in more general 
use as a winter forage for hogs than any other single crop. For winter 
pasture it can be sown any time from August to October, and give good 
returns. It may be sown in the corn and pastured after the latter is 
gathered and often good results are secured when it is put in after corn 
has been hogged down. Rye will make an early start in spring and 
furnish green feed until clover, etc., will do to pasture, or until some 
early spring sown crop, such as oats or rape, are ready for use. 

One of the worst features about using rye as pasture is that it is hard 



62 PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION 

to prevent it from mixing with wheat and injuring the latter. It should 
be sown in a place that is to be plowed up in the spring and planted to 
corn, so as to kill any rye that may have escaped the hogs. Clover can 
be sown in rye, and the entire crop pastured. Artichokes also make a 
good winter pasture when the ground is not frozen. 

DRY LOT HOG FEEDING 

Feeding hogs when no pasture is available offers one of the greatest 
and also one of the easiest sources of improvement in the production of 
pork that can be found by the Corn Belt farmer. Pastures which give 
variety of feed, laxativeness and needed food nutrients to a ration of 
corn are not available at all seasons of the year and in a large majority 
of cases the latter feed is relied upon to give the best and cheapest gains 
on hogs. Of course corn must of necessity comprise by far the largest 
per cent of the ration and any other feeds used must be considered as 
only supplementing corn and not as replacing it. There are conditions 
under which it is the best policy to use corn alone for hogs even when 
they are in dry lot, but there are many other times when to use corn 
alone would be at the sacrifice of time as well as profit. 

The factors that determine the value of a ration are: First, the ones 
that aid in the increase of the feed consumed; and second, the ones that 
more nearly offer the food nutrients demanded by the animal's body. 
The importance of increasing the amount of food consumed is readily 
realized when we consider that the maintenance requirements are very 
little greater per 100 pounds for a hog that is on full feed than for 
one that is on a maintenance ration which merely prevents a loss of body 
weight. If the food consumption is only large enough to maintain the 
animal, no food would be available for gains. If the food consumed is 
two pounds daily more than maintenance there would be twice as much 
available for making gains as if it is only one pound above maintenance. 
In other words, the feed above maintenance may be compared to the 
profits above the expenses of running a business. The larger the income 
above expenses the greater the profit; the greater the food above mani- 
tenance the greater and more economical the gains. Although there is 
a point in food consumption where the digestion is not as thorough as 
when less feed is eaten, in general the above statement is true. 

Chief among the factors influencing the food consumption is the bulk 
of the feed. The stomach of the hog is of such a nature that a large 
bulk of feed cannot be consumed. No other animal will make more eco- 
nomical use of the food eaten than the hog but its capacity is not large 
enough to allow a large quantity to be eaten. Forcing a hog to consume 
a bulky feed is the same as limiting the ration to the same degree as is 
the bulk of the feed eaten. No one would think of compelling fattening 
hogs to consume a large amount of hay or rough feed, yet oats, bran, cob 
meal, etc., are of somewhat the same nature. Best results cannot be 
secured with hogs if a very large proportion of bulky feed is used. 

Palatability. — Another factor that influences very largely the amount 
of feed eaten is the palatability of the ration. Careful trials have shown 
that more complete digestion takes place when the food is well liked by 
the animal than when it is impalatable. The digestive juices are secreted 



DRY LOT FEEDING 63 

in larger quantities when the appetites of the animal are keen and when 
the desire for food is strong. It is a matter of common observation that 
animals that do not relish their food are not as thrifty and do not make 
as rapid gains as others that are not eating any larger amounts of feed 
but do have a keen appetite. And not only is the digestion better but 
the actual amount of food eaten by the animal will be larger. This is, 
of course, one of the essential features and one that will show most 
marked results. Any feed or mixture of feeds that is very palatable 
thereby increasing the digestibility and consumption will produce a 
larger gain on the hogs than a feed of equal food value but not relished 
by the hogs. 

The question of getting the proper food nutrients into a ration can 
be easily settled, for there are numerous feeds containing the food con- 
stituents lacking in corn. The great problem is to find the one that will 
give the best results for the least cost. This depends, of course, on the 
amount of each supplement to corn required to balance the ration, and 
the relative cost of the same. The lower the price of corn, the less is 
the financial benefit to be derived from the supplement. 

When hogs are to be fed in dry lot there is little doubt of the advisa- 
bility of adding a supplement to corn. This is especially true of small 
hogs. If the pigs have been well grown on grass or behind cattle, before 
they are placed in dry lot to finish there is less benefit to be derived 
from a supplement than if the hogs are young and need growing ma- 
terial. A well grown hog weighing 175 pounds or more will finish almost 
as well, though not so rapidly, on corn alone as on a mixed feed. Hogs 
of smaller size (the smaller they are the greater is the effect of the sup- 
plement to corn) however, not only make a more rapid but also a more 
economical gain. Young pigs in dry lot should certainly receive more 
than corn alone. The question of the proper supplement to use depends 
for its solution on the conditions as to availability of the different feeds 
and on their relative price. 

Milk. — Whenever this feed can be secured, it must be considered the 
best supplement to corn for young pigs. Containing as it does all the 
essentials of an ideal feed for growing animals it can be used to supple- 
ment corn for either growing or fattening animals. There is a limit, 
however, to the amount that can profitably be fed. About one-half gallon 
of milk to each pound of grain eaten is the amount that should be fed 
to small hogs. The amount of milk to grain should be gradually de- 
creased until only half as much is being fed when the hogs are finished. 
Too large quantities of milk especially after the hog has reached some 
size has a tendency to cause pot bellies. Such conditions should not be 
permitted. There is practically no difference in the form of the milk, 
whether whole, skimmed or as buttermilk when fed with corn because 
the corn supplies the food nutrients removed in skimming. Sour milk 
usually gives as good results as sweet milk but care must be taken that 
the souring is not accompanied by decay or bad results will follow. 

Tankage and Meat Meal. — These two feeds are so closely related that 
they may be treated under the same head. They are both a refuse product 
from the packing houses and are very high in protein and therefore 
require only a small quantity to balance a ration of corn. An average 



64 



PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION 



of six feeding trials at the Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, and Indiana Experi- 
ment Stations gave the following results: 







K 


c 












c 


d 


oS 






- 5J0 


hot. 




4> cd 


0) 






be be 




to a 


Ration 




■oS 


£*, 












■ulna 


Jo 


° 

So 



Corn alone 

Corn and tankage. 



.72 lbs. 
1.31 lbs. 



586.2 lbs. 

427.3 lbs. 



$5.23 
4.47 



It will be noted that tiie gain was increased quite appreciably and 
that the cost of gain was reduced from $5.25 per 100 pounds in the case 
of the corn alone to $4.47 per 100 pounds for corn and tankage. The 
costs are based on corn at 50 cents per bushel and tankage containing 
60% protein at $44 per ton. These trials were made with varying 
amounts of tankage and do not show the maximum effect. It should 
never be fed in greater amounts than one part of tankage to 9 parts of 
corn and this only for young hogs. For hogs weighing 125 pounds only 
about one part of tankage to 12 of corn should be used and large hogs 
do not require a greater proportion than 1 to 15 and very good results 
are secured by using only one part of tankage to twenty parts of corn. 

The tankage or meat meal can be fed either dry or as a slop. When 
ground feed is used, it should be mixed and fed with the other feed. 
When only whole corn is used, the tankage can be fed either dry or as 
a thin slop. In either case, however, a tight trough is needed because a 
small leakage represents a large per cent of loss on such a small quantity 
of feed. 

Linseed Oilmeal differs very little from tankage in its effect on hogs. 
It is not as high in protein, however, and requires about double the 
amount to produce the same results as could be secured if tankage were 
used. It is not so high in price and is preferred by many feeders because 
it is free from the disagreeable odor found in tankage and to some 
extent in meat meal. A summary of four years' work at Purdue Experi- 
ment Station to determine the relative value of tankage and linseed oil- 
meal is as follows: 



Feed per 100 lbs, sain 

















4) '5 




a 

£ 








beta 






"o 




fe >> • 


c ■ 


a . 


eS • 
















>'5' Q 


OP 


?4 


OP 


Ogcj 




<J>dh-) 


UJ 


0QM 


^J 


oSta 



Corn meal. 

Tankage 

Corn meal. 
Linseed oil meal . 



1.61 

1.49 



370 
364 



241/2 
46 



3941/2 
410 



4.09 



It will be noted that the gains were somewhat less rapid and the 
grain required to make 100 pounds gain was more when linseed oilmeal 
was used and that the cost of making gains with corn at 50 cents per 
bushel, tankage $45 per ton and linseed oilmeal $36 was $0.21 per 100 
pounds cheaper by use of the former feed. There is such little differ- 
ence, however, that the two feeds are considered of practically the same 



SUPPLEMENTS FOR CORN IN DRY LOT FEEDING 



65 



feeding value. Linseed oilmeal should not be fed in larger amounts than 
one part of meal to five parts of corn. The proper proportions of oilmeal 
for hogs of different sizes will be secured by doubling the amount of 
supplement recommended under tankage. The same method of feeding 
is employed as when tankage is used. 

Shorts or Middlings.— These two by-products of flour mills are so 
nearly the same in feeding value that they can be considered in the 
same discussion. They are the most common and abundant of the sup- 
plementary feeds for dry lot hog feeding. It requires such a large amount 
of these feeds to balance a ration of corn that the cost of gains is greater 
when they are used as the only supplement than when milk, tanttege or 
oilmeal is used. The following table compiled from ten trials at the 
Missouri and Illinois Experiment Stations gives the effect of adding 
shorts or middling to corn in dry lot: 

Feed per 100 lbs, gain 













c 




c 








s 
















be oe 




to 

In . 

O tO 




ft- 


Ration 


0>« 10 


£« 


3« 


r 5 a 




^'S^ 


0* 


j=ja 


0,0 






<J-OiJ 


OJ 


Wj 


HJ 


0, bij 



Corn alone 72 586.2 586.2 $5.23 

Corn and Shorts 1.10 ■ 333.7 176.4 510.1 $5.10 

♦Corn at 50 cents per bushel and shorts $1.20 per 100 pounds. 

It will be noted that the rate of gain was slightly increased and the 
cost of gain slightly decreased but in the cost the change was not very 
great. These trials, however, were with hogs weighing about 125 pounds. 
With pigs, the use of shorts for making a slop especially when mixed 
with a small amount of tankage or linseed oilmeal gives very much more 
marked results than when fed to large hogs. In fact, the proper use 
for shorts in a hog lot is for making a slop for young pigs and as a part 
of the brood sow ration and also for constituting a part of a slop fed to 
large fattening hogs when supplemented by other nitrogenous supple- 
ments. It adds payability to a ration of corn and tankage or corn and 
linseed oilmeal and forms the body of the slop. It may very well con- 
stitute one-half of the ration for young pigs but should never constitute 
more than one-third of the ration for fattening hogs. 

Bran. — This feed is too bulky to give best results for fattening hogs. 
While the composition of the feed is satisfactory for use with corn, the 
bulk is so great that large enough quantities can not be consumed by 
the fattening hogs to give rapid and economical enough gains to justify 
its use in the fattening lot. When the purpose is to grow the animal 
instead of fatten as in the case of pigs or shoats, bran occupies a place 
in the ration— sometimes as high as one-third being bran— but otherwise 
it should be used sparingly, except in the breeding hog's ration. 

Oats. — Practically the same can be said of oats as of bran. The bulk 
is too great to admit of its use very extensively for fattening swine. 
However, when soaked and fed in small quantities there is a stimulating 
effect on the hog that is beneficial, but to try to balance a ration of corn 
with oats would result in giving such bulk to the feed that enough could 
not be consumed to make satisfactory and economical gains. It cannot 
be excelled, however, for growing hogs and brood sows. When scattered 



66 PROFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION 

on the ground in a clean place or crushed and fed in slop they are an 
excellent feed for brood sows. And when ground and the hulls sifted 
out they are the best single feed for young pigs. It is for these latter 
uses and not for fattening hogs that oats should be employed. 

Hay. — It has been in the past considered that hay is too bulky to be 
of use for hogs, and with a few exceptions the statement is true. How- 
ever, alfalfa hay, especially the last cutting, cowpea hay and sometimes 
clover hay can very successfully be used for fattening hogs. Fine alfalfa 
hay will often be entirely consumed by hogs. If the hay is coarse, the 
larger stems will be left. The leaves and smaller stems and peas will 
be eaten from cowpea hay and the leaves and some of the small stems 
of clover hay if it is clean and bright will be eaten by hogs, especially if 
they have reached considerable size. Whenever possible alfalfa and 
cowpea hay and often clover hay should be kept in racks so that the hogs 
can eat it. Often as high as two or three and sometimes more pounds 
of hay will be eaten daily by hogs. This feed has been found by exprei- 
mental trials to practically replace the same number of pounds of corn. 
From this it can readily be seen that when the hay is of such quality that 
the hogs will eat it there is a very material cheapening in the cost of 
making gains. Unless the last cutting and sometimes the next to the 
last cutting of alfalfa or good cowpea hay is available no such good 
results can be secured. 

Preparation of Grain. — The preparation of the corn for feeding hogs 
depends largely upon the time of year, size of the hogs and the methods, 
to be employed in feeding. Feeding dry in the ear is the most commoi 
and except for special conditions gives as good results as more laborious 
preparation. When corn is not extremely dry as in summer and it is nor 
desired to feed everything in the form of slop, the ear is the logicajl 
method of feeding corn. 

Often with spring pigs, the corn is very dry, as in summer, and it is 
then economy to soak the corn from one feed to the other or for 24 hours. 
The grain is thus softened and rendered more palatable and a greater 
amount eaten. There are very few years when corn does not become 
so dry in summer that it does not pay to soak it for young pigs. This 
is also the case sometimes with large hogs and also at other times of 
year. Trials have shown that about 5 per cent is added to the feeding 
value of corn by soaking it. The gain is slightly more rapid and slightly 
cheaper. This does not, of course, apply to corn that is not dry. 

Grinding corn for young pigs does not pay for the trouble, unless 
the meal is being mixed with other feeds to form a slop. When a mixed 
feed such as corn, shorts and tankage is being fed it is more convenient 
and more profitable to grind the corn and mix all feeds together. With 
this exception it does not pay to grind corn for small hogs. For larger 
hogs grinding has proven by a great number of trials to add somewhat 
to the efficiency of the ration. The average of 18 trials at the Wisconsin 
Experiment Station showed that 6 per cent is added to the efficiency of 
corn by grinding. This added value to corn by grinding is not usually 
enough to pay for the cost incurred in such preparation unless very rapid 
gains and a quick finish are desired, or other feeds are being used so 
that it is desirable to grind and mix all feeds together before feeding. 



Modern Systems of Swine Management 

L. A. WEAVER, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OP ANIMAL HUSBANDRY, 
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI 

High priced farm lands, which 
as a rule are less fertile than for- 
merly, are demanding that more 
attention be paid to modern meth- 
ods of farming. If agriculture is 
to be permanent, then the fertility 
of the soil must be, at least, main- 
tained if not increased. In order 
to economically keep up this fer- 
tility, it is a recognized fact that 
some kind of live stock must be 
kept. The demand of the meat 
eating public makes it imperative 
that a large part of the live stock 
produced on the farm be cattle, 
I sheep or swine. The kind of ani- 
/ mal to be kept is determined by a 
good many different factors of 
which the following are some of 

_ . . ■ ... the most important: 

Prof. L. A. Weaver 

First: The kind of farm, or in other words, the kind of food avail- 
able. It is easily understood that no man could grow hogs profitably on 
the large grazing areas of the West or on any farm where grain could 
not be readily supplied. As a country develops, the beef and sheep in- 
dustry gives way to a certain extent to the dairy cow and hog for the 
reason that dairy and pork production adapt themselves better to in- 
tensive farming than does the production of beef or mutton. 

The next thing to be considered is the relative efficiency of the 
various animals for utilizing the feeds grown on the farm. No other 
meat producing animal, with the possible exception of very young lambs, 
will make as economical use of food given as will swine. This is shown 
by a table given in Jordan's "Feeding of Animals," the data of which was 
obtained from the recorded data of experiment stations involving a num- 
ber of observations and hence should be reliable for average conditions. 
A part of the table follows: 




Kind of animal 




3-2 «««« *> 

£0 C o 3 c -* — 
y ni CO' £ to 

2? to ej ° . 3 



Steers (average) 32 

Sheep (avg. for sheep and lambs) 11 

Swine (average; 277 

(67) 



242 


7.40 


122 


7.20 


1,385 


3.29 



gg MODERN SYSTEMS OF SWINE MANAGEMENT 

If the above results are trustworthy, it is seen that a little more 
than one-half as much digestible organic matter is required to produce 
a pound of gain in live weight of swine than in case of cattle or sheep. 
(In this connection it is conceded however, that cattle and sheep are 
able to utilize a greater amount of roughness than can the hog). 

Nor does the food required to produce a pound of live weight tell the 
whole story. Another part of this same table shows the food require- 
ments to produce 1 pound increase in carcass and also the requirement 
to produce 1 pound increase in edible solids. 

Digestible organic substance producing 







IB 




T3 IB 


>o 'S 




' C IB 


c -5 


Kind of 


3 0> aj 
M V 


3 ^ £ 
O K m 


animal 


0) CS 


ft cs a> 




<D i. U 


v (-.Q 




C « 

O.S.S 





Steer 12 36.3 

Sheep and lambs 14.2 37.9 

Swine 4 6.4 

This table goes to emphasize the fact which we already know., i. e., 
that swine will dress out a much higher percent than either sheep or 
cattle and also that a larger per cent of the swine carcass may be utilized 
for human food. So far, then, as economy of production is concerned, 
we see much in favor of swine when compared with cattle and sheep. 

A third consideration, as to kind of animal produced, would probably 
be the supply and demand. In other words, we must be able to obtain 
the animals which we can finish into a marketable product and must 
have a demand which will enable us to sell the finshed product at a price 
which will give us a profit. Owing to the prolificacy of swine, there is 
no class of animal which is easier obtained. A small number of brood 
sows will produce a large number of animals to feed. The capital needed 
in order to start in the business is for this reason relatively small. As 
to the demand for the finished product, the past statistics show that pork 
has sold for as high or higher price per pound than either beef or mutton. 
The facts already given show this to be the logical result. Pork is getting 
to be more and more the meat used by the working class of people and 
for this reason we may conclude that the demand for pork will continue. 

The kind of animal to be produced is also determined, more or less, 
by the present prospects of the industry. Probably the greatest draw- 
back of the industry in the past has been the dreaded disease of hog 
cholera. Since much progress has been made in the last few years in 
methods used to control this disease, it would seem that it should be 
only a question of time and education until the danger from hog cholera 
should be reduced to a minimum. 

By the facts already brought out, namely: the trend towards inten- 
sive methods of farming; the economy of production, including both the 
cost and the food value of the product; and the demand for the finished 
product it is shown that there are some fundamental reasons why the 
swine business is profitable compared wifh other meat producing indus- 
tries. 



THREE SYSTEMS DISCUSSED 69 

As a country develops, land increases in value and it becomes neces- 
sary to change the systems of farm management and farm practices. It 
has been shown that pork production is profitable. It is not, however, as 
profitable as formerly unless modern systems of management are fol- 
lowed. For example: conditions were formerly such that it was profit- 
able, as well as desirable, to market extremely heavy hogs. In the case 
of swine, however, as well as with other meat producing animals, early 
maturity and short feeding periods are now the rule, so we find few 
prime heavy hogs (350 to 500 pounds) reaching the market. It is only 
by adopting the system of management to changing conditions that the 
hog feeder can make the most out of his operations. 

Owing to the different kinds of farming there are several more or 
less well defined systems of swine management, each requiring to a cer- 
tain extent, its own specific practices. For example, a system which is 
well adapted to farms having good equipment and on which is grown a 
large amount of grain, is that of keeping on the farm a breeding herd 
large enough to produce all the pigs needed for feeding. These sows 
are bred to produce, as nearly as possible, two litters a year. The pigs 
produced in this way should be crowded from birth and are marketed at 
from 6 to 8 months of age at 200 to 250 pounds. 

A second system is that of raising but one litter a year and having 
this litter come during the late spring. The sows and pigs are on forage 
of some kind for the grazing season with perhaps a small amount of 
grain in addition. The pigs are in this way grown, rather than fattened, 
until fall. At this time they are large framed, muscular hogs and are 
put on feed and finished for spring market at the age of 12 to 14 months. 

A third system practiced by some is one very much like the second 
except that the hogs are on pasture with little grain during the first 
summer; are fed a growing ration during the winter, and during the 
second summer, or when the hog is a yearling he is provided foragie 
crops such as alfalfa, clover, rape, etc., and grain enough to finish him 
by the end of the grazing season. These are marketed in the fall at a 
weight of 300 pounds or more. 

Other more or less distinct systems might be mentioned. Each has 
its advantages and disadvantages and the one practiced depends very 
much upon local conditions. The best system for one man may not be 
the best for another. The system best adapted for a given individual 
one year may not be the best for the year following. It is impossible, 
therefore, to say that any one system is best for all conditions. 

Regardless of the particular system of swine management which is 
practiced, however, certain principles must be kepi in mind and followed 
in order to make risk from disease small, cost of production low and sell- 
ing price as high as possible. 

The object of what follows is to supplement, somewhat, the informa- 
tion furnished in the preceding chapter by Mr. King, upon improved 
methods of feeding, housing, control of disease, etc., and to outline a 
general plan or system of management which will be adapted to and 
put into practice, the principles of which make for increased profits. 

One of the first principles which should be observed with any kino 



70 MODERN SYSTEMS OF SWINE MANAGEMENT 

of live stock, in order to advance, is that of handling improved types. 
Many years of breeding a type, for a particular purpose, has resulted in 
the production of animals which are more efficient machines. The im- 
proved dairy cow, for example, is a more efficient producer of milk and 
butter than is the unimproved animal. She can take the raw product 
and from it more economically produce milk and butter. The same thing 
is true of meat producing animals. Years of breeding has produced a type 
of animal which will make a much more valuable carcass with no greater 

cost. 

The profit made from pork production is the difference between the 
cost of producing the hog and the selling price. The improved type of 
hog is highly developed over the back and loin, is heavy in the hams, is 
light in offal, etc., and hence commands the better price. In order to 
increase the profits then, a better type of hog should be used. It is not 
enough to simply make pounds of pork but it must be pork of the right 
sort. 

Generally speaking, it is profitable to produce on the farm the pigs 
to be fattened, since this gives the feeder much greater control over the 
type of animals handled. Better sires and dams mean that the offspring 
will be a better type of pork hog. It is very important that great care 
should be exercised when selecting the sire since this influence for good 
or bad, in the herd, is relatively much greater than is the case with a 
single dam. The dams should, of course, be of the best type which one 
can afford but it is apparent that where polygamous mating occurs that 
it is good business to improve the herd through the sire, rather than 
through the dam. 

Another advantage to be had by producing the pigs to be fed is that 
usually the younger the animal the cheaper the cost of gain. The younger 
the pig the less feed is required for each pound of pork produced. 

Not only should the breeding animals used be of the improved type 
but they must be maintained cheaply and efficiently since the cost of the 
pig at weaning time depends to a large extent upon this. The fact that 
corn alone is not an ideal swine feed, due to its lack of muscle and bone 
building nutrients, has already been mentioned. Experiment stations have 
shown that corn should be supplemented when fed to breeding swine for 
two reasons: 

(1) In order to cheapen the ration. 

(2) In order to increase its efficiency. 

In other words, the addition of some feeds like tankage or linseed 
oil meal, which are high in protein and ash, to a corn ration, decreases 
the actual cost of maintenance. It has been further shown that when 
sows were fed a properly supplemented ration that their litters were 
larger in weight and stronger in every way. This is what could logically 
be expected, since in addition to supplying the actual food nutrients 
needed, for developing the pigs in utero, the sow is herself kept in the 
proper condition physically. 

While it will decrease the cost of maintenance to add a grain supple- 
ment to the corn ration, the cost may be still further decreased by mak- 
ing the supplement a leguminous pasture or hay. As a matter of fact, 
such crops as alfalfa, clover and rape have several advantages over the 



BALANCING CORN WITH FORAGE CROPS 



71 





♦.-* *^5 


<c *Vil 


*£»■• \ 4tu 


i3 


>4 


"... *? 


Ljy JM 




■»■■■ 


1 




'".-.*... 


r 


SK^^^Bl'; g£ v ' ? ~'' 



Rape Is One of the Most Profitable Pasture Crops 

high priced grains. In the first place they are cheaper. They are also 
more efficient, since they supply the bulk and succulence demanded in 
the ideal ration for breeding animals. They are a great help in maintain- 
ing the health of the breeding herd, since the hogs are in this way in- 
duced to take exercise and they also make it possible to scatter the hogs 
over a larger area, the importance of which has already been discussed. 
Then the result of being able to make better use of the manure fur- 
nished must also be kept in mind. If the above suggestions regarding the 
feeding of the breeding herd are followed, much will have been done 
toward decreasing the cost of the pig at weaning time. 

The question of feeding is not the only consideration at this time, 
however. Careful management during the breeding season, care of sow 
while pregnant and at farrowing time, the care of the sow and litter and 
the successful weaning of the pigs, all have an important bearing upon 
the matter. 

The successful management of the pigs up to weaning time probably 
calls for more skill than any period during the hog's life. The expensive 
part of the process of pork making, however, is from weaning time until 
they are marketed. This is true or the reason that as the shoats are 
fed longer and as they become larger and fatter they require much more 
feed. The cost of fattening depends upon several factors, some of the 
most important are: (1) the quality of the hogs, (2) the age or weight, 
(3) the time of year, (4) the kind of feeds used, (5) the method of feed- 
ing. 

Kind of Hogs Used. — The importance of using the best type of hogs 



72 MODERN SYSTEMS OF SWINE MANAGEMENT 

has already been taken up somewhat in detail so it is perhaps not neces- 
sary to discuss the matter further. The same thing is true in regard to 
the question of age or weight. It has been brought out that the most 
profitable feeding is the one which is produced by using only hogs of 
improved breeding, and that the younger the hog ordinarily the cheaper 
are the gains. It should be always borne in mind however, that regard- 
less of the quality or the age of the hogs, they should be kept in the best 
of health and thrift, if economical gains are to be secured. This means 
keeping the herd free from lice and worms, and supplying a conditioner 
of some kind in order to keep the bowels of the hogs in proper condition. 
Methods of doing this are discussed in the preceeding sections. 

Time of Year. — As a rule, most feeders find that the most economical 
gains are put on during spring and early summer and during late sum- 
mer, fall and early winter. This merely emphasizes the importance and 
value of making the hog comfortable and argues strongly for adequate 
quarters in winter and summer. If the hogs have proper shelter from 
the extreme cold and heat the gains put on in winter and summer would, 
no doubt, approach, in economy, those put on during the other seasons 
of the year. The hogs must be comfortable to do well. 

Kind of Feed Used. — There is perhaps nothing which controls the 
cost of gains so much as does the kind of feed used. There are two ways 
in which the cost of gains may be decreased during the fattening period : 
(1) by feeding more economical grain rations and (2) by the substitution 
of forage crops for high priced gains. 

The grain fed to hogs may be divided into two classes: those like 
corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, kafir corn, etc., and which are termed 
carbohydrates. This class economically furnishes the nutrients neces- 
sary to supply energy and the material from which the fat is produced. 
The other class is called protein feeds and is used by the animal to 
produce muscle and bone. Examples of protein feeds are feeds like 
tankage, linseed oil meal, middlings, bran and skim milk. In order to 
feed economically these two classes of feeding stuffs must be combined 
in the proper proportion in order to supply the nutrients needed by the 
hogs. However, since there are several different feeds under each class 
it is necessary to know the relative feeding value of each in order that, 
taking price into consideration, the one may be used which gives the 
most for the money expended. 

CORX SUBSTITUTES 

In the past relatively little attention has been given to the feeds used 
to supply the carbohydrate part of the ration, since corn was, without 
question, king in this respect. Taking the price per bushel, and the 
feeding value into consideration, corn was a more efficient fat producing 
food than any other similar grain. In other words, the problem of select- 
ing an economical ration consisted merely in selecting a protein supple- 
ment to feed with corn. The relatively high price of corn during the last 
few years, however, has complicated the matter somewhat, so that a 
corn substitute was of interest as well as a corn supplement. 

In many sections it ofen happens that wheat is cheaper than corn 
and this is perhaps the grain most commonly used as a corn substitute. 



SUBSTITUTES FOR CORN 



73 



Early experimental work comparing the feeding value of these two feeds 
furnished some data upon the subject. This work, however, was carried 
on some time ago and the experiments were, for the most part, with 
wheat alone and corn alone. In some of the early tests a low grade or 
frosted wheat was also used which made the data obtained hardly com- 
parable with results obtained from the use of a good grade of grain. The 
conclusions drawn from the early experiments were to the effect that 
corn and wheat have about the same feeding value. Until recently no 
data was available to show the results of a combined ration of corn and 
wheat or a wheat ration supplemented with some feed high in protein 
and ash. The Missouri, Nebraska, Kentucky and Ohio stations have re- 
cently obtained data which furnishes much more complete information 
upon the question of wheat feeding. 

The Missouri Station (Bulletin 136) compared the following ration: 

Lot I Wheat 

Lot II Wheat and corn equal parts 

Lot III Wheat 5 parts; corn 5 parts; tankage 1 part 

Lot IV Wheat 10 parts; tankage 1 part 

Lot V Corn 10 parts; tankage 1 part 

Lot VII Corn 

The grain was fed ground in all cases. In these trials, wheat alone 
proved more valuable than corn alone. For example: with corn at 60 
cents per bushel, wheat was worth 77 cents; with corn at 70 cents, wheat 
was worth 90 cents; with corn at 80 cents per bushel, wheat was worth 
$1.03; and when corn was worth 90 cents, wheat gave a return of $1.16. 
If the results obtained by all of the stations feeding wheat and tank- 
age be summarized, it will be seen that they indicate that for best results 
it is necessary to feed some tankage along with wheat, at least during 
the early part of the feeding period. „ 

The above shows then that wheat is an excellent substitute for corn 
and that it should be used in this way rather than as a supplement. 

While comparatively little experimental work is available showing 
the feeding value of rye and barley, they are considered as having about 
equal feeding value and as ranking somewhat below wheat as swine feeds. 
The Kansas Experiment Station has found that kafir meal has a 
feeding value of from 17 to 29 per cent less than corn meal. The addi- 
tion of a protein supplement is also recommended when kafir is used. 

The high percentage of fibre makes oats rank rather low as a sub- 
stitute for corn for fattening hogs. The Ohio Station found that it took 
495.7 pounds of a ration of oats 9 parts, tankage, 1 part, to produce 100 
pounds gain as compared with 418.0 pounds of a ration of corn 9 parts 
and tankage 1 part. 

Both the Indiana and Ohio Stations have experimented with hominy 
feed as a substitute for corn and their results indicate that the hominy 
feed has a somewhat higher feeding value than corn, hence, may be used 
as a substitute for corn when the price permits. 

COKN SUPPLEMENTS 

With feed as high as it now is the question no longer is, shall a 
supplement be used but rather which one is the most economical and 



74 



MODERN SYSTEMS OF SWINE MANAGEMENT 



while as stated above the high price of corn has made it necessary at 
times to consider the use of a substitute, the important question will 
ordinarily be that of deciding upon a protein supplement. 

The matter of protein supplements has been discussed in detail in 
the preceding section so will only be considered briefly at this time. The 
question of the relative price and efficiency will, of course, determine the 
one to be used. Analyses of feeds show that where 10 pounds of 
(first grade or 60%) tankage is required to balance 100 pounds of corn 
that it takes about 25 pounds of linseed oil meal; 170 pounds of mid- 
dlings; 200 pounds of skim milk; 26 pounds soybean meal; or 140 pounds 
of alfalfa hay. The above figures give a good idea of the relative effi- 
ciency of these different feeds when used as a supplement. 



FORAGE CROPS 

Much may be accomplished toward cheapening the cost of production 
by selecting the most economical grain rations. With the very best 
grain rations, however, the profits from feeding hogs are not as much as 
formerly so a nr thod of feeding has been sought which will still further 
decrease the cost of gain made by fattening hogs. It has been shown 
that this may be done by the use of a forage crop. 

The Missouri Experiment Station has carried on extensive experi- 
ments along this line. The following table emphasizes the economy of 
forage crops: 

ECONOMY OF FORAGE CROPS 



Kind of forage 




°£ a ® I -a 

-■£ uuggt 
« O 3 3 O o ° 

,> a-co o<o a 



Bluegrass 

Alfalfa 

Clover 

Rape 

Rape and Oats 

Rape, Oats and Clover. 

Sorghum 

Cowpeas 

Soy Beans 

Rye Grain 

Average 



4.50 
3.07 
2.95 
2.74 
3.60 
2.47 
4.00 
3.58 
3.00 
1.96 
3.18 



12.4 
18.2 
18.9 
20.4 
15.5 
22.6 
14.0 
15.6 
18.6 
28.5 
18.4 



$ .74 

1.09 

1.13 

1.22 

.93 

1.36 

.84 

.94 

1.12 

1.71 

1.10 



The above table shows that on forage it required an average of only 
3.18 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of pork, as compared with 5.11 
pounds, the average from the dry lot feeding trials conducted under 
similar conditions. This would mean a saving of 38% in the amount of 
grain fed. The average return per bushel of corn when fed to hogs 
grazing on forage crops was $1.10. The average return per bushel on 
corn fed in dry lots was 66c. 

Likewise, the Iowa Experiment Station has results which show that 
pigs pastured on alfalfa returned a profit of more than $3 per head with 
corn at 50c per bushel and hogs worth $6 per hundred. The same year 
hogs fed in dry lot return a profit of only 61c per head. 

Other experiment stations have similar data, such figures, however, 
do not tell the whole story. The value of pasturing off the crop and by 



ECONOMY OF FORAGE CROPS 



75 




Hogs Do Their Own Gathering and Save Expense 

so doing, returning the larger amount of fertility, must not be over- 
looked. It is also claimed by many that hogs pastured during the sum- 
mer on forage and then finished in dry lot make greater gains in the dry 
lot than those grown through the summer in a dry lot instead of on 
forage. In other words, it is thought that there is a residual effect from 
the forage crops which is beneficial when the hogs are later finished in 
dry lot. 

Then there is the still further advantage of supplying succulent feed 
which keeps the hog in the best physical condition. The fact that the 
use of pasture crops aid still further in controlling disease by making 
possible much more sanitary conditions and help keep the herd free from 
lice, worms, etc., are also important considerations. 

While pastures in general are good, there are some which give 
larger returns than others. Alfalfa as a swine forage ranks at the very 
top. This is true for several reasons. It has a long growing season and 
hence furnishes pasture early and late. It is drouth resisting, growing 
luxuriantly when many other crops cannot grow for lack of moisture. 
The composition of the plant also makes it especially fitted for balancing 
a corn ration. 

Clover ranks next to alfalfa perhaps as a hog pasture. Its composi- 
tion is very similar to alfalfa, however, it cannot be pastured as early 
nor will it maintain as many hogs per acre as alfalfa. The crop fits well 
in Corn Belt rotations and may be very profitably harvested with swine. 

The best annual hog forage is without much question to be had by 
seeding as early as possible in the spring either a field of Dwarf Essex 
rape or a mixture of rape and oats. The rape may be broadcasted at the 



76 MODERN SYSTEMS OF SWINE MANAGEMENT 

rate of 6 pounds seed per acre and then followed with a grain drill using 
one bushel of oats per acre. There is no annual forage which will pro- 
duce more pounds of pork per given area than will rape and oats. This 
crop has given excellent results when compared with other hog pas- 
tures by the different experiment stations. Your experiment station can 
supply you with more detailed information concerning it. 

Bluegrass and sorghum are also to be recommended. Bluegrass comes 
early and late, but takes a rest during the hot dry summer. A field of 
sorghum is very valuable for this hot dry spell when other crops are not 
doing much growing. 

The most progressive hog raisers recognize the importance of having 
green feed as much as possible and are planning to have all year hog 
pasture. Wheat or rye sown early in the fall and bluegrass will give 
winter and early spring pasture. It is surprising how much winter pas- 
ture may be obtained with wheat and rye and by saving a field of blue- 
grass for use in winter. Alfalfa, clover and bluegrass may be used In the 
spring after rye is turned under until the rape and oats are ready. Sev- 
eral different fields of this crop should be sown in order to make it pos- 
sible to change from one to the other and thereby let them freshen. (Rape 
will come on again if not grazed too closely.) As mentioned above, sor- 
ghum gives good results for the hot summer. When cool weather comes 
and fall rains begin the rape and bluegrass again produce a large amount 
of forage. 

If the fattening shoats on forage are fed, as indicated above, they will 
ordinarily not be finished at the end of the grazing season but they will 
be in excellent condition to be finished economically by allowing them to 
hog down some corn. In planning a rotation of crops, then, it is a good 
practice to include enough corn for hogging down to finish out the hogs 
grown through the summer on forage. 

HOGGING DOWN CORN 

That the practice of hogging down corn is a good one has been 
shown by tests carried on at many experiment stations and has been 
demonstrated in actual practice by a large number of feeders. 

Eleven trials with hogging off corn at the Missouri Station have 
shown that there is no better way of finishing hogs than by allowing them 
to do their own harvesting. This was true considering both the rate 
and economy of gains. 

Some of the advantages of hogging down corn are well summarized 
by the Iowa Station as follows: (Bulletin 143) 

(1) Labor is saved. Four handlings of the corn crop are omitted, 
namely: (a) husking, (b) cribbing, (c) reloading, shoveling into wagon 
at a later feeding time, (d) feeding the hogs on pasture or at the yards. 
These enumerated handlings of the corn crop are modified under local 
conditions; some simply take the load of corn from the field, if they have 
an extra wagon, into the hog lot and feed it out there, thus doing away 
with cribbing and reloading. 

Two handlings of manure are discounted. The manure is dropped 
in the fields where it is needed, no labor is necessary to haul it out of 



ADVANTAGES OF "HOGGING DOWN" CORN 77 

the lots and to scatter it. Any animal such as the hog, or device such 
as the self-binder, the corn husker, or gang plow is welcome under the 
present existing labor conditions: "Hogging down" has been pressed into 
service largely because of the extenuating difficulties arising in the secur- 
ing reliable efficient help to harvest the corn. 

(2) Storage charges are saved upon the portion of the corn hogged 
inasmuch as crib space is not needed. The rats and mice do not get any 
of the corn that is "hogged down". 

(3) Returns are equally as good in pork produced where the hogs 
gather their feed themselves as where it is hand-fed. It is proposed of 
course that some pasture or supplement be fed in conjunction with the 
corn in field as well as in dry lot feeding. Hogs running in the cornfield 
and having alfalfa, rape or clover pasture in addition with possibly a 
little supplement depending upon the pasture used are ideally handled 
to secure a maximum of pork at a minimum expense. The hogs gain 
more economically and rapidly when in the corn-field properly supple- 
mented than they do in dry lot. 

(4) The hogs develop good constitutions with considerable strength 
and are in excellent condition for quick fattening feed after coming out 
of the field. Range with its accompanying exercise provides a most 
excellent tonic; the hogs are healthier than in dry lot feeding and are 
especially inclined to stretch and develop in the corn field, building frame 
and muscle to a large degree, putting them in good shape for a few weeks 
close-pen fattening. 

(5) No manure is lost, practically speaking, as in dry lot feeding; 
of course this does not apply to pasture. Animal husbandry has not yet 
been able to devise a system of manurial fertility, conservation which 
would excel the "hogging down" way. With the almost entire lack of 
leaching loss we have only that fertility removed from the land which 
is carried away in the hog's body; which really comprises only a small 
portion of the corn crop's fertility. 

(6) The manure is evenly and uniformly distributed over the field 
in such a manner as to do the most good without the intervention of 
human labor. Hogs easily excel the modern mechanical manure spreader. 
These manurial advantages of "hogging down" mean increased yields as 
compared to the elevator way of handling the corn crop. 

(7) The crop is harvested without waste, the hogs if rightly man- 
aged picking up practically every stray kernel of corn. By following up 
the fattening hogs with young shoats or even with brood sows, the field 
will be garnered more closely than it would be by the ordinary husker. 
In truth the hogs turned into the field after the husking is over pick up 
considerable corn which might otherwise go to waste. 

(8) The weeds may be cleaned up to some extent. One man espe- 
cially says, "Quack grass has disappeared permanently since I started 
'hogging down. ". One would not ordinarily expect such a happy result 
as this but nevertheless considerable of the weeds are destroyed. 

(9) Hogs may follow up cattle and otherwise save waste. They 
may clean up after silo filling time, gathering the ears which have been 
dropped by the corn binder, they may follow the husking machine and 
garner the waste grains. 



78 MODERN SYSTEMS OP SWINE MANAGEMENT 

(10) Facilitates and encourages the gathering of seed corn early 
from the standing corn in the field. One practical man puts it this way: 
"The reason many men do not gather their seed corn early is because 
they do not like to 'smash' down the rows with a wagon and carrying a 

sack is tedious, discouraging, sticky business With us in half a 

day two men with team and wagon gather enough seed to plant a hun- 
dred acres We then turn the hogs in and they efficiently do the 

rest with much profit resulting directly and indirectly." 

(11) Poor stands of corn may be taken advantage of in that rape 
may be sown at the last cultivation, thus enabling the land to produce a 
full crop that season; the hogs do the rest. 

(12) Brood sows which are to farrow spring litters may be advan- 
tageously run into the field after the fattening or other hogs are removed ; 
they gain health from so doing, thriving under the tonic of invigorating 
exercise and beneficial range. 

(13) Fall plowing is sometimes possible if the hogs clean up the 
field up early, thus preventing rush of spring work. 

(14) Organic plant matter will be largely added to the land if sup- 
plementary crops such as rape, rye, soy beans and cowpeas or the like 
are sown in the cornfield. The rape stumps as well as the mat of ma- 
terial left from rye or soy beans will discourage washing and erosion to 
some extent. The "hogged down" stover reverts more quickly to the de- 
sirable manurial and fertilizing form of organic matter than does the 
hand-husked. Quick and speedy incorporation of crop residues into the 
soil is quite desirable. 

(15) Corn is harvested more quickly. 

If such a practice is to be most profitable it must, as in the case with 
any other method of harvesting, be rightly managed. For best results 
the hogs should not be given access to the entire field but should only 
have the run of what they will clean up in ten days or two weeks. If 
the hogs are limited in this way they will have fresh forage from time 
to time and will clean the field up much better as they go. For this pur- 
pose some kind of a movable or temporary fence must be supplied. A 
cheap and efficient temporary fence may be made with woven wire by 
fastening well at each end and then tying to the corn stalks. 

Before placing the hogs on the corn they should be gotten on full 
feed of new corn gradually by starting them on a few stalks and increas- 
ing until they are getting about all they will clean up. They may then 
be placed in the field to do their own harvesting. The hogs should be 
turned into the corn field when the dent has just formed in the kernel. 
They will do better at this stage than if the corn is allowed to get harder. 
For profitable results it is of importance to supply an abundance of 
water to hogs on a full feed of corn. 

The question of a supplement to the corn which is "hogged down" is 
one of importance. In sections where crops like rape, or soy beans may 
be successfully grown in the corn, a grain supplement is perhaps un- 
necessary. When such crops are not grown it will no doubt pay to feed 
in addition a small amount of some supplement, like tankage. For this 
purpose one-fourth to one-half pounds of tankage per 100 pounds live 
weight per day should give good results. The tankage may be fed either 
dry or wet in a trough. The Iowa Station reports good results by feed- 



SELF-FEEDERS FOR FATTENING SWINE 



79 




After Field H'as Been Cleaned Up 

ing tankage in a self feeder and allowing them to eat it at will. Their 
results indicate that the hogs will balance their ration about right. 

SELF-FEEDERS FOR FATTENING SWINE 



This brings up the question of the use of self-feeders for fattening 
swine. The Iowa Station has perhaps done more experimental work 
along this line than any other station. Among other trials they conducted 
one where several feeds were placed in separate self-feeders and the hogs 
allowed to eat as much of each as they desired. The following feeds were 
used: 

Shelled corn 

Wheat middlings 

Meat meal (60% protein) stankage 

Whole oats 

Linseed oil meal 

Charcoal 

Ground limestone 

Common rock salt 

Water 

They found that pigs weighing about 45 pounds at the beginning of 
the trial, when fed as indicated above, weighed around 290 pounds at the 
end of the 162-day test. During this time, for each 100 pounds gain, they 
ate the following feeds: 



80 MODERN SYSTEMS OF SWINE MANAGEMENT 

Shelled corn 372.40 pounds 

Meat meal 27.57 

Oats 2.53 

Oil meal 1.15 

Middlings 14.54 

Charcoal 10 

Limestone * 14 

Salt 13 

Total 418.55 pounds 

The above shows that corn, meat meal, and middlings were the feeds 
mostly used by the hogs when allowed to eat each at will. The gain ob- 
tained was quite satisfactory both as to rate and economy. 

The Missouri Station fed two lots of hogs averaging in weight at the 
beginning about 110 pounds, 56 days on a ration of corn 12 parts, tank- 
age 1 part. One lot was hand fed and for the other a self-feeder was 
used. The results from this trial show very little difference, either as to 
rate or economy of gain, indicating that the use of the self-feeder for 
fattening hogs was as satisfactory as hand feeding. 

The Minnesota Station reports as follows upon the results of three 
trials where the method of self-feeding was compared with hand feeding 
for fattening swine. 

"In all three tests, the self-feeder pigs ate more grain per day, and 
their daily gains were somewhat larger. On the other hand, the hand fed 
pigs produced a little more pork for each pound of grain consumed. The 
self-feeder, then, gives a little faster gains but requires slightly more feed 
for a given gain." 

The above experimental work indicates that self-feeders may be used 
satisfactorily for fattening swine. It can be used, of course, only when 
it is desired to full feed. 

CONCLUSION 

As stated before the profit is the difference between the cost and the 
selling price. All of the above discussion has had to do with methods of 
decreasing the cost of production and it is here that the producer can do 
the most to increase his profits, since he has relatively little control over 
the selling price. It is important, however, that he be well posted as to 
the demands and conditions of the market in order that he may sell to 
the best advnatage. He should be familiar, for example, with the market 
classes and grades of hogs in order to properly interpret market vlaues. 
He should keep thoroughly posted upon variations of the market caused 
by economic conditions, time of year or any other cause. 

If he does all this he should be able to intelligently sell his product 
which if produced in the cheapest possible way should mean the largest 
possible net profit. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



Missouri's Greatest Farm Pap 



B ETTER 
FARMIN G 
B ETTER. 

eArmhqvies 

BETTER. 
CITIZEN SHIP 



002 843 013 9 

We believe that every intelligent farmer will con- 
cede that "STAMPING OUT HOG CHOLERA" is a 
booklet which would hardly emanate from the edi- 
torial rooms of an ordinary farm paper and we 
therefore wish to briefly call the readers attention to 
THE MISSOURI FARMER— Missouri's greatest and 
cleanest farm paper. It is printed at Columbia — the 
home of Missouri's famous Agricultural College, the 
Missouri Experiment Station and also the Missouri 
State Board of Agriculture — the very "Mecca" of 
farm information in this great state. It is edited by 
Geo. B. Ellis, for years Secretary of the Missouri State Board of Agricul- 
ture — a man who was born and raised on the farm, who operates a splen- 
did farm today, and who is perhaps more intimately acquainted with the 
problems confronting the farmers of this state than any other man in 
Missouri. As evidence of its standing, THE MISSOURI FARMER is the 
official organ of the Missouri Dairy Association, the Missouri Farm Man- 
agement Association, the Missouri Farmers Exchange Association, the 
Missouri Sheep Breeders Association, the Missouri Home Makers (Farm 
Women) and the Agricultural Committee of the Missouri Bankers Asso- 
ciation. 

The time is here when the average farmer must take his avocation 
more seriously — when, like the successful business man in town, he must 
try to get out of the situation all there is in it and make every move count 
to the utmost — and it goes without saying that he cannot do this unless he 
supplies himself with the most dependable kind of current Agricultural 
information! For years the farmers of this state were without a powerful 
farm paper of their own and it was to fill this void that six years ago we 
began the publication of THE MISSOURI FARMER. Too many farmers 
fail to discriminate between farm papers. To these men all farm papers 
"look alike." They don't stop to think that a farm paper published in 
some adjoining state or perhaps a thousand miles away advocates many 
ideas not suited to Missouri conditions — and hence the average farm home 
is filled with a lot of cheap farm papers which contain an element of 
positive danger rather than helpfulness. 

If you are a subscriber of THE MISSOURI FARMER and need special 
information on any farm problem — or want to know something about 
some live stock disease — write to us and we will give you dependable 
information by return mail — for if necessary we will take it up with an 
expert in the Agricultural College. It is a home farm paper published 
and edited by men who understand Missouri conditions and should there- 
fore be in the home of every thinking farmer in the state. One thing 
which makes the paper "different" is the number of articles we publish 
during the year from successful Missouri farmers — farmers who are win- 
ning and who tell how they do it though our columns. You will enjoy 
the powerful articles by Mr. Ellis. So, too, you will like "After-Thoughts" 
and "Buckshot" by "The Professor." The subscription price is 50c a year. 
Subscribe now so you may enjoy this great Missouri farm paper during 
the coming winter. William Hirth, Publisher, 

THE MISSOURI FARMER, 

Columbia, Mo. 



